You Are My First Friend!
by Elise the Writing Desk
Summary: Season 1: Julius, the friendless iron-hearted student swears that he doesn't need anyone. Unfortunately this nosy transfer student chick Alice keeps barging on him like she owns the place. A humorous tale of a heart-warming friendship just for you. AU. Complete.
1. Chapter 1

_This fanfic had been sitting in my folder for almost a year that I forgot about it. I wonder what you guys will think of this one?_

_I did a cover for this one too! Check my DA to see the full-size. Please review~ :D_

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**You Are My First Friend!**  
_May 8th 2014  
_Story by Elise the Writing Desk, Characters by QuinRose

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1\. I Walk A Lonely Road

* * *

Tick, tock, tick tock...

Tick, tock, tick—

Coo, coo! Coo, Coo!

Julius watches the hours tick by in his empty house. His parents are always so busy with work, but he doesn't really care about that; he wants to visit his grand-father. His grand-father is a clock maker, and Julius likes to help his grand-father in his antique clock shop.

The clock's ticking and coo-coo are the only voices that fill his empty house. Julius is alright being alone; he's used to it. Feeling bored is the problem here. There's nothing good on TV, and he has already finished his textbooks, and every books he can find in his house. Julius can't leave because he has to watch the house.

It has always been this way for him. The navy-haired boy then drags himself from the spot in front of the antique clock and goes to peek through the window. Julius can see kids his age are playing baseball or soccer on the street in front of his house.

No, he doesn't want to join them. He's not really good at sport games, but sometimes it's fun to watch.

~.X.~

School is always fun for Julius. He always gets good grades and everyone likes a smart kid. In addition, it's not so quiet like his house.

"Good morning, Julius!" his friends greet whenever he enters the class. "Morning," Julius answers calmly with a small smile.

"Heh, you're always acting so mature," one of his friends teases, "My mom always asks me to look up to you, ha ha,"

"Well, it's because he's smart," another one says, then looks at Julius curiously. "Hey, Julius, how can you be so smart?"

"Oh, that...I don't think I'm smart," Julius says humbly and taking his seat, "I study everyday, because I'm bored. Maybe that's why the lessons are easy for me,"

His friends look surprised. "Eh? Study everyday? Because you're bored? I'd be bored even more if I study everyday! Why don't you get out and play when you're bored, Julius? Our house isn't so far from each other,"

"Sorry about that, but I have to watch the house," Julius reasons with a wry smile. "But, maybe I'll try to lock the house before leaving."

~.X.~

Even though Julius had said that he will join, he's really bad at soccer or baseball. He can run fast, but catching, throwing, jumping, kicking, he's really bad at those. He notices that the team which picked him seems to get bothered by his inability.

"I'm sorry...I'm not good with this game," Julius apologizes.

"Whatever," his friend says with a hard look, when suddenly, the baseball is hit and flows across the street, right into a window.

CRASH! The boys cringe in fear.

"Oh, crap! That's Liddell's house!" they whine. "Come on, let's run—Julius!?"

Julius walks to the house and turns over his shoulder to nod at his friends. Before he even knocks, the door is slammed open, revealing a girl his age, holding the baseball.

"Uh, that's..." Julius can't find anything to say as he stares at the baseball in her hand. He then glances at the broken window. "Oh, yeah—We're sorry for breaking your window. Please let me pay for that," he quickly says.

"Oh, how rare," an older female says as she walks from behind the little girl. "That's good, I'll be waiting for the new window. Hand that ball to him, Chibi,"

The little girl hastily hands away the ball and quickly runs upstairs. The older girl laughs, and then glares down at Julius.

"Now what are you standing here for? Get lost!" she slams the door in his face.

Julius shrugs and stares at the ball before walking away to his friends who are stunned.

"Julius, you're alive!" they cheer. "Are you sure it's okay for you to replace that window?"

"Ah, that's fine. This is to make up how I can't really play sports," Julius says coolly. "Though, maybe we should find somewhere else to play."

His friends exchange stares. One of them comes up to him. "Hey, what about playing games at my place?"

~.X.~

"I can't believe this! I missed the new episode of _Persona 4_!" one of Julius' classmates whines when he enters the class. "What was that about—Wait, no, please don't tell me! I'll just download it myself!"

Seeing Julius is just watching their discussion, one of his friends asks him. "Hey, Julius, do you watch any animation?"

Julius thinks for a short moment before answering with a blunt; "No."

"Eh? Even Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle? At least that one!"

The navy-haired boy shifts uneasily with an apologetic smile. "No, not at all. I only watch news, sometimes."

"Man, what are you? Old man?" his friends laugh. "What about comics or manga?"

"No, sorry." Julius smiles wryly, and then there is an awkward silence. Of course, his friends are trying to find something to talk about with Julius, but he knows nothing, and that's really uncomfortable for anyone.

"Speaking of which, have you read the last issues of _The Avengers_?" one of his friends breaks the silence, and succesfully gets the conversation going again, leaving out Julius to listen.

Julius becomes to feel uneasy and uncomfortable. He begins to realize that he's such a boring kid. He can't play sport or play video games. He doesn't watch animations or read comics. He only studies and watches news like an adult.

"My parents..." Julius suddenly speaks up, and his friends turn to him. "I once used to collect _Gundam_ DVDs, but...my parents threw them away. When I buy _Harry Potter_ for the first time, they burned it." He sighs. "They forbid me from those things...That's why..."

"What? That's horrible!" his friends looks symphatetic. "I mean, my parents usually yell at me for playing games because I get bad scores, but Julius, even though your scores are the best..."

"That's just harsh for you, huh,"

At the least, Julius is thankful that they understand. They still let him to listen their discussions even though he doesn't have anything to talk about. Not that he's a great talker in the first place. He thinks it's enough.

~.X.~

A new class begins. Julius enters his class and realizes that his ex-classmates are entirely in different classes than he is; Julius high scores got him to Class A, filled with competitive excellent students. The class is filled with quietness as all of the students are busy reading or doing math problems.

During lunchbreak, Julius gets out of his quiet class. On his way to the library, he sees his ex-classmates.

"Hey, guys—" the two of them walks past Julius. He sighs. He knows he always mumbles, so they probably didn't hear him.

When he decides to eat at the cafeteria, he notices three of his ex-classmates in the same table, eating and chatting. He slowly walks over to them with his tray.

"Hey, guys,"

"Oh," they stop chatting. "Julius, you're in class A now, huh? Though we've expected that already..."

"Mind if I...?" he nods to their table.

"Yeah, sure," they say. "So yeah, I think if we save enough money, we can buy X-Box One and then take turns on keeping it."

"But I'm broke, man..."

Julius eats silently. He really doesn't know what the three of them are talking about, and he knows he's being left out again. Suddenly, without saying goodbye, they stand up and leave while still chatting. Julius shrugs and continues to eat in silence.

However, one day, he realizes what exactly is happening.

He's walking from the library and is going to the cafeteria to eat when he notices someone familiar near the locker corridor. Julius almost walks towards them, but then hears something that feels odd for him.

"So who's that loser who keeps eating at your table?" Julius notices his ex-classmate laughs. "Oh, that? Julius? Haha, loser you say? Well, that guy's kind of sad, so we just let him sit there. He's really boring!"

"Heh, that's sad, man. Doesn't that guy have a friend or something?"

Julius scowls at this. Well, he's friend with his ex-classmates!

"Nah, no way, man, he's really boring, I tell you. We're ex-classmates. I just hope he doesn't think of us as friends or anything, but he's so quiet, so since we pity him, we just let him sit there." The ex-classmate laughs. "Though if he gets any weird ideas, that'll be awkward."

~.X.~

"Julius, why aren't you going to school?" Julius' mother asks nonchalantly as she's busily cooking sunny side-up. His father doesn't care, reading the newspaper.

"I don't feel good." Julius answers, and then he sips the black, bitter coffee.

"Well then, whatever. We're so busy right now, can you take care of yourself?" mother says as she sets a plate of sunny-side ups.

'_You're always busy_'. Julius shrugs. "I can. I don't know how long I'll feel this way."

"Just make sure you don't downgrade yourself, Julius." Is the only thing his father say.

"Certainly, father." Julius answers stoically.

"As a student, your role is solely to study and get good scores. Remember that, alright?" his mother pats his head.

"I know."

He spends his day off in his room, studying. Julius feels like he's back to zero or maybe even worse. So he doesn't have friends, apparently. So all those time, the greetings, chatting and getting together was nothing, it was something acquantainces normally do.

"So I'm wrong," Julius says to no one. "I was just being delusional."

"Yeah, I'm delusional." He chuckles and continues to solve math problems. "Who'd want to befriend a boring guy like me...What a joke. I'm a loser, that's right."

His hand trembles and he puts a great pressure on his pencil that it breaks. Julius hides his face on his study desk and groans.

"I'm an idiot." He mumbled.

He clenched his fists and straightens up, scowling. His eyes are cold and dark. A frown decorates his face.

Well, he won't be so delusional next time. And he won't let anyone to make him think of delusional things. There's nothing such friends for a guy like Julius. He's boring, weak, he acts like an adult. He's just a loser, that's true. He just have to deal with it. But next time, he's decided...he won't let anyone near.

"There won't be the same mistake anymore." Julius mumbles grudgingly.


	2. Chapter 2

_I'm going to upload the first season today! This fanfic will also be downloadable from my Facebook! See you there!_

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2\. Hello, it's Alice Liddell

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Ever since that conversation he overheard in seventh grade, Julius realized that no one would want to be his friend. Thus, he goes through year by year without a friend at school. Being an introvert, he doesn't really care. There are some people who get curious about him, but he won't respond to whatever way they try to reach.

Because they'll probably leave him again. It has always been that way. Julius noticed for years, that his classmates would be really good friends to each other, and when they go to the next grade, they act as if they're busy with their new friends and had already forgotten about their former classmates.

'_All I need to to care is my scores and grades. I have to study.'_ He plants this deeply in mind.

Friendship is such a delusional thing to believe in. That's what Julius had thought ever since the seventh grade. It goes the same for his parents; all they care about him is his good grades. He doesn't even know what he'll do with such good grades, but that's all he has to get and want.

Julius opens his locker before he's heading to his class, only to find an envelope. This has happened quite often since middle school until now, in tenth grade; some random girls he doesn't even remember send in a love letter or something.

'_Though whoever that is will probably get bored when they get close to me,_' Julius scoffed, staring down at the envelope sealed with a heart sticker. '_Those girls are probably thinking that I'm easier to get than that popular Pendragon guy or something.'_ He throws the letter into the nearest trashbin after locking his locker and heads to his homeroom.

Before he enters his homeroom, he hears his name mentioned several times and stops.

"What? You haven't done that group project? Why...? It's due today, right?"

"Uggh, the thing is, I'm partnered with that Monrey guy! I don't even know where to begin; at least the guy should've told me what to do or something..."

Julius stares at the manuscript he has worked on his own. Of course, despite he worked on it on his own, he also added his partner's name, despite that guy didn't do anything. That'd be convenient for everyone.

"...Did that sounded like a good reason? Heheh, I mean, I got really lazy and you know that Monrey will do the whole project on his own and still add my name!"

The navy-haired teen flinches and his fingers tightly grips the manuscript in his hand.

"Why do you need a reason anyway?"

"Yeah well, just in case that he's not adding my name, so I can blame him..."

"Duuude! Though, that could do the trick, hahaha!"

Julius raised his eyebrows and crossed his arms, leaning to the wall. He should've expected this, and he knows that this is obviously the case...but hearing the truth has always been painful. Julius sighs and takes out a black highlighter as he comes into the class, and he recognizes his good-for-nothing partner.

"Hey, Jules! What are we going to do about the project, man? You should've called me or something...!"

Julius takes a seat. "I don't know what you're going to do with the project," he says, and sets the manuscript on his desk. His partner perks up with a grin.

"Dude! You did it? Aw man, now I feel guilty. You should've asked me to do somet—"

Julius crosses his partner's name with a black highlighter. Without even looking up to that guy, he then puts the manuscript into his desk's drawer and continues to ignore him.

"Hey, why did you do that...? Dude! Come on, why did you cross my name?"

The navy-haired teen keeps staring straight to the front with a calm expression. "I figured that it's common sense to do the project on your own if the other doesn't even bother to ask what to do himself."

"What...?" the guy slams his hands to Julius' desk. "It's your fault for not asking me!"

"If you want to get a part in this, you should've asked _me_. Everyone here knows well that I can do this on my own." Julius retorts calmly, it's so true that it hurts the guy's pride.

"Y-You stuck up...you think you're all that, and you want me to beg you for assignments? As if!"

'_I just want you to shut up.'_

"You're going to pay for this!"

'_You're going to fail this project.'_

A fist is swung, but Julius calmly dodges and catches the guy's wrist. He coldly stares at the guy. Of course, Julius is the type to prepare everything; being alone has consequences, such as bullying. Ever since he decided that he won't trust anyone as friends, Julius studied martial arts.

He studied hard for school subjects so that he doesn't need anyone to help him. He always makes sure that he brings the right book and pen during lessons so he doesn't need to borrow anyone's. Julius had prepared himself for the consequences of being alone, ultimately; without anyone to depend on, he has to depend on himself.

As long as he can depend on himself, he's completely fine being alone.

"Punching me in the face won't get your name back on the project," Julius says coldly and pushes the guy away by his wrist. "Deal with it on your own. I'm not your gopher."

'_This is just the tenth grade...'_ Julius mentally sighs, ignoring his classmates who begin to whisper and stares at him coldly. '_I hate school. Just two more years to go. Got to hang in there.'_

~.X.~

In the eleventh grade, the classes are divided like in elementary school; there are 7 classes, from A to G. The school is trying to apply Asian's system to teach discipline to the students and prevent skipping classes better. Julius ultimately hates this system.

He hates having to see the same people, because that can lead to attachment, given some long periods. Julius frowns as he enters Class B, and everyone turns to look at him in surprise before starting to whisper to each other, probably about him.

"No way, why _him_?"

"This isn't going to work...I mean, we're going to have group stuff like drama and presentations this year, right?"

"Man, imagine how doomed I'll be if I got paired with _that guy_!"

Julius furrows his eyebrows and takes a seat at the back of the class. Yes, he knows that eleventh grade is full of interactive projects, and he's been wondering about what to do with those. Maybe he should ask for the teacher to give him a different, uninteractive but hard assignment whenever that project comes up...

His new classmates begin to fill the desks, but tries to avoid his spot, and when there weren't much choices left, some reluctantly sit in front of him and his front-right side. The right desk next to his is still empty when it's five minutes left before the homeroom starts.

"Alright, everyone. Good job on getting to the next level of school. I've got a transfer student here." The teacher walks into the class while talking, followed by a dark-blonde girl who stops in front of the door and looks unsure of what to do next. "You, stand in front of the class."

She stares at her teacher and looks down on her feet, then at the class. The girl then stares at the teacher again.

"But I'm standing in front of the class."

Some students laughed at this. The teacher rolls his eyes and drags the girl so that she stands in the middle front of the class.

"Now introduce yourself." The teacher busily takes a seat and opens the absence list.

"My name is Alice Liddell, 16 years old, h-how do you do..." the girl smiles shyly, and Julius can feel some of the students turns to glance at him and whisper.

"Now I feel bad..."

"That shy girl is going to sit next to Monrey..."

Julius scoffs. '_Well, excuse me, I'd also love to have my own class.'_

"You've been living in a lot of different places, huh, Liddell. Do you have any plan to move again?"

"N-No...My parents have decided to settle here in Cheshire..."

"I see. Sit there, in the back, the only seat left."

Suddenly a female student voluntarily stands up. "If you want to sit in front, I'd exchange with you, Liddell."

"N-No thanks!" Alice hurriedly takes the seat in the back, right next to Julius. Julius figures that it's only because she doesn't know him like other student, but he has to admit, having someone who gladly takes a seat beside him is quite refreshing.

'_Though, she'll probably regret this soon.'_ Julius muses to himself.

"Phft, like hell I'm sitting in front..." Julius hears the new girl scoffs, and sighs as she drops herself on the desk. Her eyes then catch Julius.

"..." Julius stares at her. This Liddell girl has quite the fascinating eyes.

Alice stares back at him, before suddenly closing her eyes and dozes off.

Julius narrows his eyes and twitches.

'_That's fast...'_


	3. Chapter 3

3\. Shut Up, World!

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Finally lunchbreak. Julius is reading his notes, and he can't help but notice the students are beginning to crowd around the new girl.

"Hey, Liddell, so you've been abroad a lot, huh? What countries have you been into?"

Alice frowns and tries to avoid staring anyone's eyes. "Some countries in Asia and Africa...we move a lot, I just..." she shrugs awkwardly.

"Whoa, I've never left England...But you're originally from here, right? Why did you move a lot?"

Alice twiddles her fingers. "Um, well, how do I say it..."

"Hey, guys, can't you see you're giving her a hard time?" some girls laugh. "Take it easy, don't be too shy, okay? We should hang out sometimes!"

Julius scoffs. That kind of situation reminds him of himself back in elementary grade. It's pretty obvious that those guys are just spouting balderdash. No one gets genuinely interested about a person. Everyone only care about themselves, and everyone thinks that their-selves are the most interesting one.

When the crowd leaves, Julius is once again surprised because Alice sighs in relief.

"God damn, I thought that'd never end..." she says to herself and pulls out a box filled with lunch. Julius raises his eyebrows; he rarely seen such a thing in real-life he only knows that Japanese sometimes take boxed lunch to school.

Alice realizes that Julius is staring, and glances at her lunchbox. She then glances at Julius, who is taken aback.

"Uh, do you want some?" she asks bluntly. "You don't have to stare at my lunchbox so intensely, my food won't ever teleport to your mouth that way."

"Oh, uh, no, I was just..." Julius clears his throat and returns to his book. "Just, nevermind..."

"Good," Alice sighs. "I'm so hungry, I won't be full if I have to share, but if you really want some, it's really okay. I'll probably come down to the cafe and buy something..." she pauses with a frown. "Damn, that's too troublesome. I'm too lazy for that. I'll just deal with the hunger."

Julius' eyebrows twitch. He's surprised to know that this new girl, Alice Liddell, is not shy at all. She's just lazy and blunt, not good at small unnecessary chit-chat.

He definitely doesn't want to get mixed up with lazy people anymore.

~.X.~

'_What did I just say..._' Julius mentally groans as the next English class is already assigning them a group project, and he's ultimately partnered with Alice Liddell. He can see the other students are giving pitying stares to the new student, who's oblivious to it.

Just when Julius begins to think of how to ask the teacher to have a different assignment, Alice boldly pulls her chair and approaches Julius.

"So, we're going to have a presentation about one of the classic literature...! I don't know about you, and you'll probably think this is boring, but I love classic lit, man..." she says with excitement in her eyes. "I mean, most teenagers here probably don't read stuff like _Julius Caesar, Midsummer Night Dream, Sense and Sensibility_ or well, can't blame them, 'cause it's boring for people generally...though you look like you like to read, Monrey,"

Julius is really taken aback that he gets quite speechless as he lets the girl rambles. He clears his throat. "Uh, well, I don't read classic literature, but I can if I have to..."

Well, if his parents even find a single school-unrelated-book, they'd burn it.

Alice smiles wryly. "Don't push yourself, though. Classic lits aren't for everyone. How about I write a resume about one and you edit it? Though, we have to find a way to make it interesting..." she sighs. "And I hate presentations...I hate standing in front of people...man, this is too troublesome. Can we just dub the presentation?"

Being a nearly-closet introvert, Julius sometimes goes on weeks without talking to anyone. When he does talk to someone, it'd be short. Now he's actually having a _conversation_ with someone. Someone is actually talking to him more than fifteen minutes? This is really shocking for him, and he can't help but notice how his classmates are staring at them, surprised, despite they can't really hear what they are talking about.

"I...think I'd read it on my own..." Julius scowls. "I don't like not knowing things in the project. You should stop taking everything your own way, that's selfish."

"Yeah, I need to be more considerate," Alice nods in agreement, and Julius twitches.

'_I was expecting you to say that I'm rude and leave me the hell alone.'_

"So what is going to be our book?" Alice asks again.

Julius glares at her. No, he doesn't want to do anything with anybody...he doesn't want _her_ to try and be buddy-buddy like—Can't she just act shy to him, like how she does with everyone else?

'_Don't. I don't like this._' He grumbled in his mind and finally decides to say it out loud. "Look, I don't want to do it with you—I'm going to work on it myself. Leave me alone."

Alice looks surprised. "But...this is a group project...Shouldn't we work on it together...?"

Usually it's never like this. Whoever he's partnered with will leave him to work alone. They never asked for a part in the project. They only want him to add their name on the paper. After that, they'd act like they had nothing to do with him.

But now, this new girl is eagerly asking for a part, discussing the project with him...despite he doesn't know anything about it. He doesn't need this. She'll just act like they had nothing to do with each other when it's over...It's better if they had nothing to do with each other _at all_.

"No," he shakes his head, saying this straight to her face. "You'll just get in my way." He harshly adds. The girl looks startled for a moment, and frowns at him.

Alice finally nods. "Okay, I don't understand, but...if you need any help, just ask," she sighs and pulls her chair and sits back in her earlier spot.

Julius sighs in relief and rubs his temple.

"No way, he refuses to work as a group...?" he can hear them whispering again.

"That Liddell girl is so unlucky...she even tries to talk to him..."

'_Can't the world please, shut the hell up?'_


	4. Chapter 4

4\. The Selfish and The Shameless

* * *

This is quite a troublesome assignment, Julius has to admit as he rubs his nosebridge to appease his headache and tilts his head back, away from the monitor. Since he can't just bring home a classic-literature book—which is classified as school-unrelated—Julius decides to search and read on the computer.

Reading on computer sucks and hurts his head. Classic lits are filled with unnecessary, long, detailed paragraphs. Julius wonders if this is the result of the lack of internet during Shakespeare's century. Every dialogues are being stretched with confusing 'thy' 'thou' 'doth' crap that he needs to take a note and translate them.

"Ugh, I give up." He groans and turns off his computer, taking off his glasses and drops himself in his bed. He stares at the ceiling, trying to wait for his headache to fade away.

'_I have to delete the history...father will be furious if he finds out I've been downloading a classic lit...'_ he thinks tiredly. Good thing that his parents are away for a week, but Julius doubts that he can finish reading the classic literature in a week on a computer. If it's in a book, things are bound to be easier.

"_If you need any help, just ask,"_

Julius rubs his temple. Of course there's no way in hell he'll ask that girl to help him. No one can help him. He can't depend on anyone...he's alone.

'_She's just saying that as a formality. Stop thinking about it._' He scolds himself.

Julius decides that he'll try to read the book in the library. Although he knows that there is a limited number of classic lit in the library, so he hopes that the other students haven't borrowed all of them yet.

~.X.~

Julius sighs in relief as he exits the library, holding a _Midsummer Night Dream_ in his hand. Unfortunately, he can only read it at school, so he'll have to keep it in his locker when school is over. If his parents find it, they'll burn a library book, and that'll be troublesome.

Alice is still in her desk even during lunchbreak, and he accidentally peeks what she's doing; she's drawing some illustrations. Julius stiffens when she notices him staring, and raises her eyebrows.

"Oh, you're also going to read _Midsummer Night Dream_? What a coincidence!" she snickers and returns to her drawing.

Julius accidentally slips out; "What are you drawing...?"

'_Damn, Julius. Why.'_

"I'm drawing illustrations for _Midsummer Night Dream_ characters. I also draw some scenes that I'd like to present...don't you dare steal my ideas!" she says and stuck her tongue at him childishly. Julius scoffs and takes his seat.

Like hell he'd steal her idea. He'd just browse illustrations from the internet, why'd he goes through such trouble? Still feeling lethargic after his headache, Julius tries to read the book.

The bell rings, and he hasn't even finished a quarter of it. Julius groans silently and closes his book. He notices that Alice is staring curiously at him and deadpans at her.

"What are you looking at?"

Alice snickers. "I'm using you as a model to draw _Oberon_, the King of Fairies,"

Julius' eyes widen and he blushes a little. "Don't!" he hisses. "Stop—what are you...?"

Alice has taken his picture with her smartphone camera. She scoffs.

"I do and draw what I want, you can't stop me, Julius."

Julius narrows his eyes. "That's...selfish."

Alice scowls at him. "You're the selfish one! You decided on your own to work on your own, how's that for selfishness?"

Julius is too agitated to care about how his classmates are beginning to watch.

"No one wants to work with me, so—"

"You can't decide that on your own," Alice cuts him off again and looks down. "I don't know what have I done wrong with you, I'm really hurt, you know. I don't know you well, and you suddenly said you don't want to work with me...What did I ever do to you...?"

Julius falls silent and turns to his book again, blood rushing to his head, creating painful pressure known as headache once more. It's true that he's been acting unfair about this, but he just doesn't want her to go through an assignment with such a boring guy like he is...If only she understands who's the one that is hurt the most.

He's really glad that the class starts soon, so he can ignore Alice and takes his mind off. Julius is hoping that Alice will drop it when the school is over, but she boldly comes to his desk with a serious look.

"We...need to talk."

Julius stares at her emptily and looks away. "I don't need to talk. There's no need to."

Alice grits her teeth. "I really, really hate being in the spotlight, but if you're so stubborn then..." she then begins to talk louder; "_Julius Monrey! Why! Did you ! Not want! To work! With—_"

"Okay! Okay! I got it, let's talk!" Julius frantically clamps her mouth and drags her out of the class.

'_What the hell!?'_ he thinks in shock, totally not expecting that from the new student. Thinking fast, he decides to drag her to the library, so that the rule can force her to shut up.

Julius glares at the girl coldly as he lets her go. She glares back and wipes her mouth that he's been clamping on.

"Ouch, damn, you're such a gentleman," she cynically praises.

"I don't see why I should treat you nicely." Julius deadpans. "You like to push your way on people, don't you?"

Alice frowns at him. "Maybe I am, but you're also shutting people out, so we're even." She hisses.

He can't retort to that one. '_Damn it.'_

Julius sighs and crosses his arms. "So what is it? I have work to do."

Alice takes a seat in front of Julius, like a student waiting for the teacher to teach. "Why did you not want to work with me?" she continues her question from earlier. "Is it that, you don't like to work with a plain person?"

Julius considers this reason for a moment. Well, anything to shut her out will do.

"Yeah, I don't like plain girls."

Alice twitches. "Well sorry!" she puffs her cheeks. "Though it's not like any girls want to work with a gloom mushroom like you are."

He rolls his eyes. "Is that it?"

Alice stares at him for a while. He feels uncomfortable about it, but keeps glaring at her coldly. She sighs and stands up from her seat.

"Dude," she laughs wryly, "Maybe me being plain is one of the reasons, but I know that it's mostly because you're a wallflower."

Julius stiffens a little, feeling exposed for no reason. He then realizes that his classmates must have been talking about him, and either she listened to them or overheard, Alice already knows that he's ultimately shutting everyone out.

"You don't have to be nice to me, or think of me as a friend, but please," she clasps her hands, "I'm begging you, Julius...I can't stand in front of the class—at least not _alone_. I'll do anything—I'll work on everything as long as I don't have to get into the spotlight...Please, Julius..."

Maybe it's because she looks really pathetic. Maybe it's because she somehow reminds him of himself...his deep wish somewhere in the back of his mind. Maybe it's because he's sick of _Midsummer Night Dream_. Julius sighs.

"No one's ever asks me to work together..." he mumbles, very low that she might not hear. "Fine, at least give me the resume. I'm not used to classic lits..."

Alice quickly lits up. "Oh, awesome! Anyway, I can give you something even better than my resume!" she eagerly digs her bag and pulls out a _manga_. "This is a manga illustration of the _Midsummer Night Dream_, it's easier to read this way," she hands the _manga_ to him.

"Um, no, I can't take this..." Julius clears his throat. "My parents...if they find out, they'd burn your book..."

Alice blinks. "Can't you just hide it under your bed, like how you hide porn?"

Julius blushes. "I-I don't read or watch porn..."

The girl gapes. "A pure saint!?" she gasps. "Can't you just hide it and read it when they're not home? They don't set a camera in your room or anything, right?"

"Well, no, they're going out for a week, but..." Julius can't find the words to tell her off, but she shoves the _manga_ into his hands.

"Then I don't see the problem! If you read this, you'd probably finish it in three hours or even less," she clasps her hands excitedly. "I have an idea on how to put out the presentation and make it interesting, but I want your opinion...Hey, we should go to your place and work on it right now!"

Julius' eyes widen. "Whoa, hold it—That's way too much invasion in a day..." he twitches.

Alice nods. "Yeah, I guess that should be the problem with introverts..." she nods again, and suddenly takes his hand. "Well then, we shall go to my place!"

Julius gapes. "Wait, no!"

'_I'm not ready to be this close with anyone!'_


	5. Chapter 5

5\. A Flutter

* * *

"Lorina, I've brought a fr—classmate, we're going to work on an assignment," Alice says loudly as they walk through the house. A guy comes out of one of the room and glares at her.

"Alice! You're bringing a girl!?" he squeals and points at Julius.

"No way, this is a boy, no matter how pretty he looks, Edward!" Alice argues.

Julius twitches. Okay, that's rude, but he never realized that he's been categorized as 'pretty'.

The man approaches them and frowns as he confirms that Julius is a boy. "Aw, man, what a lamer. Wait, is he your—Nah, no way," he laughs. "Please take care of this brat, she's so weird, but—nah, she doesn't have any good qualities, per se."

"Whoah, thanks a lot, Ed." Alice twitches and kicks her brother's shin before dragging Julius to run off upstairs. Her house is mediocre, but Julius can hear a lot of people in there, and sometimes some guys walking around in the corridors.

"This is my room! Watch your step,"

Julius narrows his eyes. As far as his eyes can see, there's an ocean of trashes and dirty laundry on the floor, and there's no way for him to 'watch his step' if he really does step into that room. The moment she opens her door, a really bad smell comes out, and he can even imagine if that's how it will feel if the Hell's Gate is opened.

"Sorry it's a bit messy, but my brothers and sometimes my sisters, they barge in to look for their clothes or use my bathroom...so I give up cleaning it—and that's absolutely not mine!" Alice screeches and snatches a bra from the floor, hiding it behind her back.

Julius has no words for this, but can only blush.

"Th-This is my sister—Rhoda's! This isn't mine!" Alice begins to wave it around. "A-And even though this has my name on it, it's not mine, okay? I already gave it to her years ago, it's not mine, hahahaha..."

"Okay, stop," Julius holds a hand up. "Let's...just go to my place."

~.X.~

Julius is really reluctant to let anyone gets so close as far as inviting them to his house, but he's even more reluctant to know more about Alice. Alice follows him quietly behind as they walk. He glances at her over his shoulder.

"You're awfully quiet. If only you're always like this." He scoffs.

Alice just stares at him and rolls her eyes, not saying anything. They finally stop at his house.

"Hmm, your house is really comfortable and clean, Julius," Alice comments and Julius gestures her to take a seat in the living room. "My living room is always so crowded with my brothers...I have nine siblings, so there's never a silence in my house."

Julius shivers at the thought of having so many people in the house. Nine siblings? Ten children? He can't help but wonder how does that house be so strong, sheltering children like Alice Liddell and her siblings.

He sees Alice sits awkwardly, and he realizes that he had never taken a friend—no, anyone home before. Julius clears his throat and goes to the kitchen, making some coffee.

'_God, did I seriously bring a stranger home...?'_ he thinks. '_But it's so awkward in her house...Damn, Julius, keep it together.'_

'_Wait, I bring a girl home!'_

'_No, Julius, that's not a girl. No. That annoying little selfish wretch is not a girl.'_

'_Not a girl. You've seen her room. That's not a girl's room. Nope.'_

When he comes back to the living room, Alice is still awkwardly sitting. Julius sets the cups of coffee on the table and sits too, and there's this excruciating awkward silence that kills them. Suddenly Alice groans.

"Ugh, I've never been into anyone's home!" she whines. "When I finally get a classmate home, and they just destroyed my room—aargh, I hate them so much those brats..."

Julius blinks in confuse, and Alice frowns at him. "D-Don't judge me just from my room, okay? My room wasn't always that bizarre, okay? I was really shocked to see it and tried to act oblivious—what am I saying? I'm just..."

"Alice...?"

"You're probably disgusted from seeing my room..." Alice mumbled weakly. "I swear, we just moved, so they used my room to unpack, and those stuff, they just left it there, and I didn't have the time to clean up...and I'm just—I'm not a slob! Don't you dare judge me!" she snaps at him grudgingly.

Julius stares at her blankly, while she glares at him, daring him to scoff or laugh. There is another silence, and Alice's face begins to heat, and Julius clears his throat awkwardly.

"Yeah...sorry, you're right. I judged you." Julius says calmly and takes his bag, taking out the manga and a notebook. "I just...you shouldn't have brought a guy to your room, in the first place."

Alice slaps herself. "God damn, you're so right, Julius! Sometimes I just forgot that you're a guy...Oops, sorry, I just, heheh..." she laughs awkwardly and clamps her mouth.

Julius twitches. "W-Well, sorry for being pretty."

"Why do you let your hair long? Though it's amazing, I must say..."

Julius stares at her oddly. It's really weird. He can talk to Alice about anything; he doesn't have to know about classic literature, or popular TV shows, or animations or new movies, or popular hits...

'_This girl can always find anything to talk about, huh_.' Julius smiles to himself.

"Well, my grand-father is a clock-maker, and he also grows his hair like this..."

Alice nods. "Oh, so you want to look like your grandpa?"

Julius freezes, feeling that her words has stabbed him. Alice tilts her head, and then snickers, before laughing.

"Heh...hahaha...I got you, didn't I? So Julius wants to age quickly, no wonder you act like an old hermit..."

"I don't want to age quickly, and I'm not acting like..." Julius twitches, and he groans. "Whatever."

"Oh, so you're being a wallflower to follow your grandpa?" Alice asks and takes out her illustrations. "Well, that's good. I think you're doing a great job—oh, that antique clock is beautiful, by the way. Did he...?"

Julius follows her gaze and nods to the antique clock. "Yeah, my grand-father made it...Actually, he's not a hermit...he's really nice and warm..." he mumbles and begins to stare at the _manga_. "I'm...being myself."

"Hooh..." Alice nods while drawing a sketch of a scene. "That's even better. Being yourself is the most comfortable way—at least that's what I think," she shrugs and takes a sip of her coffee. "Mm! This is good, Julius. Is this your own special blend?"

"Yeah..." Julius looks down, can't concentrate. If she keeps talking so casually like this, he'd want to talk too...and he'll expose himself...and he'll get attached...and she'll leave him...and then...

"Ah, but it's not anything special..."

"Heh, I always say any 'own blend' is special...It's from watching _Cat Returns_ too much. Hey, good thing I brought my hard-disk!" Alice exclaims and takes out her removable hard-disk. "You should watch it, Julius. I have a lot of _Studio Ghibli_'s movies, and they're all so good!"

Julius frowns. "No, if my parents check my PC and find them...they'll probably throw away my PC..."

"Oh, bother!" Alice waves him off. "Can't you just hide it? Do you know how to hide files, so that only you can find and unlock it? Come on! Let me use your PC, I'll teach you how to do it! Your room is upstairs, right? I don't see any bedroom here." She stands up eagerly and drags Julius upstairs.

"But—"

'_Tell her to stop, Julius!'_

His mind painfully wants him to yell at Alice and stop her. He doesn't need this. He doesn't need this warmth...because once she leaves, it will feel colder...But he can't say it.

"See? Easy," Alice says and begins to copy the movie files. "You don't even have a video player! Let's download it, then...By the way, your room is really neat, Julius."

Julius doesn't say anything, having a torn look on his face. Alice then stiffens and stands up from his chair.

"Oh, man, I...did it again, huh?" she laughs awkwardly. "Um, I'll just...sorry for barging in, Julius. You know what? I'll just go back and work on it...heheh..."

'_It's okay if it's just for one project...just for this once...and never again. It should be fine.'_

"No, I was just wondering...do you have any idea where I should hide my books?" Julius asks, looking around his room and tries to hide his faint blushing face.

'_Stop smiling, Julius you're an idiot.'_

**_The whole fanfic is completed in a form of PDF. Tell me if you want to download it or rather have it updated!_**


	6. Chapter 6

6\. Holding On or Letting Go

* * *

"Good morning, Jules!" Alice greets when he enters the class. It's still early, so no one sees them—anyone will be shocked to see the 'shy' new girl greeting the 'wallflower' so cheerfully. "Look, these are the illustrations, what do you think?"

Julius takes one of her illustrations. He never really looked at it before, but Alice is good at this. She's drawn detailed characters illustrations and several important scenes. There's a paper filled with _Puck_'s face mugs.

"Why do you have to draw this?"

"Well, have you ever played any Visual Novel?" Alice asks, and seeing Julius' hardened face, she sighs. "In Visual Novel, the characters have different expressions as the story is told. So for the presentation, I'm thinking of having _Puck_ to explain _Midsummer Night Dream_ and dub his voice."

He narrows his eyes. "Why do I get the feeling I've seen this..."

"Oh, that? I use Ace Pendragon as my model for Puck! You know him, right? That popular guy from class A?" Alice asks, and then takes another illustration. "And look at the Oberon I made!"

Julius blushes. She's really using his face to illustrate Oberon, and it fits really well, but it's kind of embarrassing for some reason.

He huffs and tries to calm down. "So...how will this go? Is Puck going to explain everything?"

"No, Puck is just replacing me from the spotlight." Alice snickers. "You will act as if you're talking to Puck, so Puck's dialogues will adjust to your speech. What do you think? Though we'll need practice to do that."

Julius thinks for a moment. He's wondering why Alice is really stubborn about not wanting to stand in front of the class, but she doesn't judge about how he's shutting people out, so they're even. After all, if the dialogues are planned, then it will feel like he's doing it on his own, so that will be much better for him—he can do presentations better if he's alone.

"That's fine. _Midsummer Night Dream_ is actually pretty funny," Julius says, taking his seat and then takes out several printouts. "Here are the scenes and background history. The highlighted parts are yours, so make Puck's dialogues that fit,"

"Okay, will do. What about the slides?" Alice asks, receiving the printouts, her eyes beginning to scan.

"We should work on that again today...we only have five days left." Julius says thoughtfully. He glances at Alice, who nods as she busily reads her parts and mumbles on how to voice it. Should he say something? He's always worried that he bores whomsoever he's talking to, so he usually doesn't talk at all.

However, Alice doesn't let him worry about that.

"So, since you've finished reading the _manga_, do you want some others? I collect the real classic lits books and the _manga_ illustrations...and did you have time to watch any movies I copied yesterday?"

Julius smiles slightly. Maybe it looks really normal to everyone else, but for him, having something to talk about to someone else is quite...refreshing.

~.X.~

It's been busy for Julius—he's always been busy, but with additional interaction, he feels busier. Alice is really bold and pushy, and she's been coming to his house to work on their presentation. During those days, she'd excuse herself to cook for dinner or clean up the room.

"So? So?" Alice asks—she's been trying to copy Julius' coffee blend for three days already.

Julius sips his coffee and shakes his head. "I'd say it's 60 points. You grounded the beans too soft."

"What? Why not? If I leave big lumps of the beans, it won't be too black," she whines.

"Just half-grounded. If you leave big lumps of the beans, then you won't have to drink the bitter powder at the bottom." Julius reasons, and puts on one of the earphones to listen to Alice's dubbing. "Anyway, your timing here is off. Your voice comes out before the next slide."

Alice groans. "Oh, no...that's so troublesome...and I'm hungry...I want omelet rice—okay, I'll cook omelet rice. Julius, you want cheese on it?" she decides on her own and drags herself up to go to he kitchen. Julius sighs and rubs his temple.

But he smiles. "Do whatever makes it taste really good."

"Okay, with cheese then—Julius! You pile up dishes again!" she scolds. "And you're running out of cheese. Maybe we should go and buy it after we're done."

"Whatever," Julius rolls his eyes and continues to edit the slideshow. Alice is lazy and always doze off during lessons, but she's quite skillful with housework. He won't admit it to her face, but her cooking is really delectable.

'_But she's such a personal-space-invader.'_ He thinks grimly.

Suddenly, the front door is open, and Julius freezes in his spot. His mother appears from the front corridor.

"I'm home, Julius. Aaron can cover it on his own until Sunday—what is this mess?" the woman scowls when she finds the messy living room filled with papers, pencils and coloring pens...and then her eyes fall onto several _manga_ on the table. "Julius, what is this!?" she walks towards the table and snatches the book. "What have I told you about comic books!?"

Julius shakes his head. "Mother, this is actually—"

"Oh, Julius' mother! Sorry for the mess, ma'am," Alice comes out of the kitchen with _three_ plates of omelet. "Don't worry, those are mine. I need them to work on the illustrations for our presentation."

Mrs. Monrey looks surprised to see a girl in her house, and then frowns at Julius for explanation. Alice calmly sets down the omelet on the table, and then walks politely to Mrs. Monrey.

"I'm Alice Liddell, Julius' partner in English Project for this time." She introduces herself and shakes hands with Mrs. Monrey.

"I...I see..." the woman is quite taken aback and responds without certainty.

Julius is more surprised by how Alice suddenly acts really mature.

"You see, ma'am, in the eleventh grade, there will be a lot of interactive projects, and it requires creativity and popular knowledge, so you shouldn't be so surprised if Julius is watching animation or movies..." Alice smiles reassuringly. "The other day, in History, the teacher asked us to watch any history-adaptation movies...and Julius doesn't have any, and he's really bad at searching movies on the internet, so I copied some for him, if it's alright."

Julius wants to say something, but then, looking at his mother's expression, he decides that it's better if he leaves it to Alice.

'_We didn't have any history-related assignment, but that's smooth, I give it.'_ Julius thinks, impressed.

"Oh, no, no, I'm really glad that you're really helpful to my son. I just hope this doesn't downgrade him or anything...?" Mrs. Monrey asks with obvious motive; '_Just don't fuck my son's grade'_.

"Oh, I don't know about that. I'm a transfer student, so I don't really know Julius well. Anyway, I used your kitchen and cooked some dinner. Mind to join us?" Alice doesn't give her a choice as she pulls the woman by her arm and takes her to sit down for dinner.

Mrs. Monrey is clearly impressed by the simple omelet that she pays no mind to her messy living room anymore. Julius is really nervous about how Alice will pull this out alive—he never brings anyone from school to his home, so he doesn't know how his parents will react to this.

"By the way, this is going to be rude, but I'm really curious, ma'am," Alice suddenly asks with a serious face.

Julius stiffens in instance when he sees his mother's suspecting frown.

"Are you...thirty...? Or –ah, no way, you must be twenty seven, yes, ma'am?"

The Monreys mother and son are entirely surprised. Julius glances nervously at his mother, who is really startled. Suddenly his mother laughs, something even as a son, he has never seen.

"Haha, oh my, you're flattering me, Alice—no, no, it can't be, I'm already thirty-nine!" Mrs. Monrey waves, still laughing merrily.

"Huh? No way, you look way younger! My older sister is just twenty, but I'll tell you, she looks like a sixty years-old wretch!" Alice says this as if telling a big conspiracy, but she only makes Mrs. Monrey laughs even more.

Julius is too dumbfounded to see his mother acting this way, but then he catches Alice winks at him secretly.

Gosh.

'_This girl is too smooth. So scary.'_

Alice continues. "I swear, ma'am. If I don't know more, I'd think that you and Julius are siblings...and Julius is the older one—he acts like an old man, I tell you."

Julius flinches when his name is finally in the conversation, and he starts to see where this is going, because his mother, despite still smiling, looks very attentive at this topic.

"He's always so serious, always studying—I mean, if it wasn't for the history assignment, I bet he'll never watch a movie in his life! Though I must say, Mrs. Monrey, you've done a great job to make him conscious and serious about his education by his own will. Though, I must say, he's _sooo_ smart that everyone at school is scared of him." Alice laughs.

"Oh, haha, thank you, but...really?" Mrs. Monrey asks with a curious and worrying look.

"Haha, don't be so serious...well, you can probably imagine this, but when I talk about new songs with other kids, all I talk to Julius is about _limits_, _algebra_...but that's okay, I hope I can catch his smartness, heheh..."

After chatting for a while, Mrs. Monrey retires to her room and asks Alice to enjoy herself in the house. Julius is silent and tries to busy himself by working on the slideshow. Alice silently begins to tidy up so the living room won't look so messy, and continues with her dubbing.

Suddenly, she sighs in relief. "Man...I thought she's going to eat me alive, but I pulled that out pretty smooth."

Julius twitches at this comment.

'_It was just an act...?'_

"Hoho, I'm always good at making older people like me," Alice grins. "Maybe it's because I've been living with my grandparents when I was little. By the way, that dinner goes off pretty longer than expected..." she glances at the antique clock.

"I think I can finish this on my own for this point." Julius says to Alice. "You should go home."

"Yeah..." Alice begins to clean up her belongings. Julius brings the coffee mugs to the kitchen, only to find the dishes are already washed, and the kitchen is clean. He sets down the mugs in the sink and returns to see Alice is ready to go home.

She smiles at him. "I'll see you at school!" she waves and he opens the door for her, before walking beside her. "Huh? You're walking me home? Am I dreaming or what?"

Julius scoffs and rolls his eyes. "Don't be so full of yourself, I'm going to the convenient store,"

"Oh, right, food stock," Alice nods in realization. "Man, I really hate group projects. It's so tiring how I have to feel responsible because I'm not working on it alone..."

Julius twitches. "Well you're the one who begs for me to work with you." He deadpans, feeling a bit hurt.

"Well, I have no choice, or else I'll have to stand in front of the class alone...Even if I can dub the whole presentation, the eyes will still be on me. And it's always nerve-wrecking to meet your classmates' parents...Damn."

"Yeah, good thing it will be all over soon." Julius says calmly. He clenches his fists as he says this. "We should do the finishing on our own...so you don't have to come to my place tomorrow."

Alice glances at him and shrugs. "Yeah, that's okay. It's really tiring, and your house is so far from mine...Ah, here's the bus stop." She walks to the bus stop and waves at Julius. "See ya at school!"

Julius shrugs and continues to he convenient market. Of course, once the project and presentation is over, Alice won't need him again. She's only using him to be a distraction so that she's not going to be in the spotlight. His heart has been prepared for this.

'_Yeah, I've said that it's only for this time._'

He'll be okay when Alice doesn't need him anymore.


	7. Chapter 7

7\. She Keeps Coming Back

* * *

Julius comes home with groceries and sees his mother is drinking tea in the living room. She looks at him and then gestures him to sit down. He sets down his grocery bags and takes a seat.

"I think Alice is wrong about something, Julius," she says. "I'm not a really good mother...I just realized after years that she's the first friend you've ever brought from school."

'_She's not my friend. She's not. I have no friends.'_ Julius reminds himself of this fact. He doesn't want to get swooped away by that beautiful rubbish delusion.

"Julius," Mrs. Monrey says with a serious look, "All this time, I know that I've been very strict about your studies, but I think...you should let off some steams. All work and no play is not good. I think I can trust you with your study, but..." she takes the _Midsummer Night Dream_ manga illustration from the table and smiles gently. "Being creative and knowledgeable is important too. Knowledge isn't only gained from school subjects; I think it's good for you if you watch movies and read fictions. It'll be better if you and Alice can go and hang out to play."

Julius feels really anxious for some reason when his mother smiles warmly to him.

"I'll talk to your father about this. He's really a hard man to deal with, but you should have fun, alright?"

"Yes, mother." Julius nods and takes off to kitchen and puts in the groceries to the fridge. The navy haired teen then retires to his room, and the first thing he does is hitting the wall with his fist.

'_Damn it..._' he mentally groans. '_Why now...No, this is irrelevant. It's good that mother lets me to have fun...but I still don't need a friend.'_

'_I don't need a friend—Alice is not my friend.'_

"When is this stupid project going to be over...?" Julius mumbles.

~.X.~

It's finally weekends. Julius feels relaxed to think that he doesn't have to interact with anyone today, but boy, is he wrong. His parents are home, and his mother isn't ignoring him like usual, it feels really uncomfortable.

"I just got back here at dawn," his father says, sipping his coffee and watches Julius taking a seat. "How's school, son?"

"The usual." Julius shrugs and his mother serves coffee for him. He covers the warm mug to get the heat into his palm, watching the steam coming off.

"Are you going to hang out with Alice? It's weekend," his mother suddenly asks, taking a seat across his father. Julius freezes in the spot.

"N-No." He quickly answers, trying to look indifferent.

"Well, you should play outside, Julius," his father begins to say. "I think you're old enough that we can trust you to have fun while taking responsibility about your studies. Oh, coincidentally," the man suddenly stands up and walks to the coat hanger in the corner of the room and takes out some tickets. "My friend owns a cinema and he's handing out some free premiere tickets; it's for an animation called _Cloudy with A Chance of Meatball_, the second..."

Julius is still unable to comprehend how his father is actually letting him to watch _animations_ when the tickets are handed to him. "You can have them; you should go and watch it with your friend,"

There is an awkward silence, due to how Julius is over-thinking this turn of events.

"Oh, or you can buy some fictions at the bookstore. I hear that teenagers are into the _Hunger Games_ series, no?" his mother takes on the conversation.

Julius looks up and stares at his father with a frown. "Why...? I'm alright if you don't allow me to things like these...Why start now?" he says this coldly, and his parents exchange stares.

His father hums and thinks to organize his words carefully. "Look, Julius...your mother and I had a talk, and after hearing what your classmate opinion about your social life at school, we're getting quite worried."

"Julius, we know that it's our fault for never spending time with you," his mother says with an apologetic frown. "We thought that you're alright as long as your grades are fine, but I guess that's not the case with school nowadays,"

His father nods. "You've worked hard and proved that you can be responsible for your assignments as a student...We should have rewarded you, but I hope it's not too late to start now. You can ask for anything, alright, son?" he squeezes Julius' shoulder, and awkwardly returns to his newspaper.

Julius feels like he's going to snap if the awkward silence continues. He wants to yell at them for saying such nice things after all these years, he wants to yell at them that they're too late. They're too late. If only they realize this way back, he'd probably...have friends...He'd have things to talk to with anyone...

'_Stop...I don't need this...'_ Julius grits his teeth, wishing something or someone will break the silence.

"Oh, I have a meeting in thirty minutes—we should go get ready, Minerva," his father says and the adults stand up. Julius sighs in relief.

He's so used to not having his parents home that it's unbearable to have them idling around the house. Julius decides to read the newspaper after his parents left. However, the silence becomes strange for him, and he feels restless that he can't concentrate with his reading. Julius then makes some coffee, and when he's pouring it into his mug, he realizes that he had just made a two-mugs worth of coffee.

"I got used to make coffee for her..." he mumbles with a frown and sets the kettle back to the stove, thinking that he can just drink it later.

Julius returns to the living room and continues to read while frequently sips his coffee. Still, he can't concentrate due to the silence, and then turns on the TV. He sighs and returns to read again. When he finally finishes his coffee, he says this out of habit;

"Can you make the coffee this time...?" Julius trails off and twitches. He narrows his eyes, sets down his mug, and facepalms. The navy-haired teen groans. He's also got used to have Alice makes the second serving of coffee.

He shakes his head, reminding himself that he still has the leftover. He tries to concentrate to the news about suspicious taxi driver that attacks female passengers. After a while, he really craves for the bitter sweet coffee and sighs. When he stands up and is about to get more coffee, the bell rings.

"Julius, this is urgent, you seriously got to help me," Alice Liddell asks intensely the moment he opens his door. "Please, please teach me statistics, it's driving me crazy..."

Julius scowls in distaste. "You shouldn't have dozed off during the lessons. It's your own fault," he huffs and is about to close the door, but Alice uses her hand to hold it.

"No! I'm just stupid!" Alice argues desperately. "I'm really, really stupid in school subjects...Teach me, please, I need to do the homework for Monday's class...please, please, please?"

He sighs. "I'll lend you my work—"

"No!" he flinches when she stubbornly snaps. "I know I'm stupid, but I don't copy stuff," she puffs her cheeks.

He groans and finally opens the door again. "Why are you so..." he sighs and she squeals in delight, dashing into his house.


	8. Chapter 8

8\. Cloudy with A Chance of Idiot

* * *

Alice Liddell is stupid. End of discussion. Julius just can't believe how anyone can be so stupid even about the simplest formula of _mean_ and _median_. Teaching her is so frustrating that he has piled up mugs of coffee on the table.

"No, no, this is still wrong—I've told you a lot of times, don't switch the value with the numbers of object," he lets a sniff of patience and grabs his coffee mug again. He's about to sip it, but he frowns because it's already empty.

"Yes, coffee!" Alice chirps and dashed into the kitchen to get more coffee. "I'm sorry, I'll do this again," she says after filling his cup ad sits back to repair her earlier work.

Julius sighs and continues to read the newspaper, but soon, there's nothing else to read. He then leans to the table and watches the girl slowly counting and mumbles.

"Um...the value...is on top...on top...and the numbers is at the bottom..." she keeps mumbling to remind herself. She's going to divide a complicated value, but Julius is surprised when he realizes that she's never writing down her calculations; "Seventy thousand three hundreds...with that...and it's nine...eight..."

Julius tries to divide the number with his calculator; it's correct. Alice only has to mumble the calculations; she's good at subtractions and simple basic math, but really stupid when formulas are applied. He continues to watch her studying; it's so funny to see her confused face or sometimes she whines to no one before getting fired up and work again with determination.

'_What a weirdo..._' he thinks, though he can't help but admit to himself that she's quite endearing.

Alice is getting impatient with her own stupidity. "This is just...Julius, I think I'm going to die from a brain fart if I continue...huh..." she realizes that Julius is asleep. Seeing his empty coffee mug, she smiles wryly.

"This guy depends a lot on caffeine...He'll die from kidney stone if he keeps drinking coffee like crazy," she sighs and takes off her cardigan and uses it to cover Julius who's asleep on the table. Alice begins to take the mugs from the table and goes to wash them in the kitchen.

It feels quick, but Julius wakes up to a good smell. Macaroni and cheese are already served when he opens his eyes, and he glances to the antique clock to see it's already seven PM. He jolts awake and glares to see Alice is laughing as she watches the TV.

"Ha, that's how you do it, Usagi-sama! Go and rape Misaki!" she squeals, hugging the sofa's pillow.

He notices the cardigan covering his back and takes it off. Taking some of the mac n cheese, he takes a seat in front of the TV. Alice looks up to him and hands a glass of water which he gladly accepts.

"What is that...?" Julius asks, and takes a sip of his water before beginning to eat.

"_Junjou Romantica_...Your mother called and said that she and your father won't be home until next week," Alice asks, and shoves in a spoonful of macaroni, eyes not leaving the show.

Julius swallows his food and sees that the scenes is getting really wrong. "That's a guy. And that kid's a guy."

"Yeah, I know," Alice says, taking another spoonful.

When the older guy gets on top of the kid, Julius keeps munching and he finally understands what is going on. He swallows his food.

"This is a gay animation,"

"Mm-hmm," Alice nods, having her mouth full.

"Why do Japanese people make that kind of stuff..." Julius narrows his eyes, a bit disturbed. "This is...improper."

"This is a soft-core gay porn, Julius," Alice says, and then frowns at Julius, staring at him up and down. "Hey, I have a question,"

Julius gladly distracts himself away from the gay anime and stares at Alice.

"Imagine a river...and a waterfall. From zero to ten, how fast is the tide in your mind?"

"One," Julius quickly answers, always liking a peaceful river. Alice nods as if she just had a clear revelation.

"Yeah, I guess that's why..." she mumbles and they continues to eat while Alice also multitasking with watching the strange anime.

(Alice is asking Julius' sexual desires. The higher the number, the more pervert a person is. Since Julius chose one, then he almost has no sexual desires.)

"...?" Julius waits for Alice to explain, but the girl just grins and pats his shoulder.

"You're a good guy, Julius, congratulations!" Alice nods to him and returns to watch the anime. Julius is still confused, but then looks down with a scowl.

"So how's the homework?"

Alice freezes. "Ah, that...ahahaha...uh...um..."

Julius frowns coldly. "You think you'd get away with making dinner and then go watch anime before finishing your homework...?"

The girl whines. "Ahh, I'm sorry, but it's so boring..." Alice sulks and turns off the video, before dragging herself to take her homework. "I've finished it, but I don't know if it's correct..."

Julius sighs and takes her homework. "Give me your pen," he says, and begins to crosscheck her homework. Trying to ignore how funny Alice is waiting in fear like a defendant in the court, he concentrates on her messily done homework. He wants to complain about how messy she is for a girl, but then again, that's just how girls are nowadays.

'_I'm not her mother anyway,_' he mentally scoffs.

"If you can correct the last two problems, I'll give you this," Julius pulls out the movie ticket his father had given to him this morning. Alice gasps and eagerly starts working.

"Okay, done!" Alice quickly says.

Julius flinches and doubtfully begins to check the last two problems.

'_She works efficiently if bribed...'_

"Th-They're correct..." he reluctantly returns her homework, and she cheers, overjoyed.

"Yaay! Now, Julius, let's go!" Alice begins to drag him up from the sofa, startling him. "The premiere starts at 10 PM, and tomorrow is Sunday, so let's go!"

Julius stares at her as if she's grown a third head. "Wh...With me? No way, I'm busy."

Alice stares back at him boredly. "You were just reading newspaper before I arrived. Your newspaper is done anyway—what, don't tell me you're going to study, Julius," she crosses her arms bossily.

He can't find a way to talk his way out of this one. When he groans, Alice cheers again and drags him to the door. Julius yanks himself away from her.

"Wait, get your cardigan, and I'll get my coat," Julius huffs at her impatient-streak. Alice skips and takes her cardigan while Julius slowly puts on his coat.

"Okay, let's go!" Alice cheers and waits for Julius to lock his house. "Oh, boy, this is my first time watching a movie with a friend!" she squeals excitedly.

Julius looks surprised. He's not expecting a person like her to be lonesome...but maybe she often goes with her siblings. He scoffs and begins to walk with her.

"Well, aren't you lonely." He mocks.

Alice puffs her cheeks. "I don't want to hear that from _you_ of all people," she mocks back. She then falls silent when they're crossing the high way, and is still silent when they are approaching the cinema. Julius glances at her, feeling how odd it is for her to be quiet.

He then realizes that Alice is busy looking around with her curious eyes, and he unconsciously begins to look around as well. Julius never really sees his surrounding, and he didn't even know what to see, but he feels at ease for the first time. Usually it feels frighteningly awkward when anyone gets speechless around him, but with Alice, she looks like she enjoys the silence as well.

He doesn't have to rack his brain and try to find what to talk. He can just be himself.

~.X.~

The result of watching _Cloudy with A Chance of Meatballs 2_ is hunger. Julius finds himself, for the first time, eating out with a classmate, and it somewhat makes him feels awkward, because he's never eaten out before.

"Do you eat out often...?" Julius asks when Alice comes back with hamburgers and water.

"I love food!" Alice grins and begins to open her water bottle. "Though, this will be the first time I'm eating out with someone—I usually eat alone," she takes a sip of her water.

Another new thing he knows about her. "Isn't it awkward to eat alone?" he asks, since it's also one of the reason he's never eaten out; he doesn't have anyone to eat with.

"Is it?" Alice asks with a worried frown. She then scoffs. "Who cares? _I love food more than I love people_, quote from Jake of _Adventure Time_," she cheerfully begins to unwrap her hamburger and takes a bite. The girl moans in bliss.

Julius shrugs and begins to follow suit her. He's not sure how it should be when eating out with someone, but when he looks around, everyone else are really loud and laughing, or talking seriously. He wonders if it's Alice, or maybe it's him who's not a really good person to hang out with. He's not fun, and he can't really talk about anything...but Alice seems alright with that, and he feels at ease.

'_Maybe she's just being considerate, though._' He thinks to himself, and then realizes something weird.

Alice is separating her hamburger; sorting the bacon, ham, lettuce, tomato, cheese, onion and buns.

"What are you doing?" Julius frowns.

Alice begins to eat the ingredients one by one. "I'm trying to sample each of their taste. Making this awesome hamburger is obviously a mastery of food mix-and-match."

Seeing the 'I-don't-get-it-but-whatever' look on Julius' face, she slightly blushes.

"People..." she clears her throat and tries not to look at Julius, "People mostly can't handle how weird I am...When I'm curious of stuff, I tend to do weird things without thinking and even though they acted polite, they will be really reluctant to hang out with me anymore...hehe..." she finishes her hamburger and drinks her water.

Julius doesn't respond to her, but finishes his hamburger. He just realized what makes Alice similar to him, and entirely different at the same time. He's careful, and she's careless. Both of them are naturals at making people feel awkward around them.

"Well, you creep me out a lot and you still come at me," he sighs.

Alice looks surprised, and glances away. "Yeah...For some reason, I don't really care if you're creeped out from me, hahah..." she awkwardly sips her drink and stands up. "I'm...going to wash my hands!"

Julius mentally groans.

'_I shouldn't have said that..._' he thinks angrily to himself, and then shakes his head. '_No, it's an automatic reflex...I don't want her to get too comfortable around me. We're not friends. I don't need a friend. It's better if she leaves me alone.'_

Suddenly Alice runs back to him frantically, holding her smartphone.

"Julius! My sister's going to kill me! It's past midnight already!"

Julius deadpans at her. "And you just realized it exactly at 1 AM in the blind morning."

"Oh man, is there even a bus to get me home at this hour?" she facepalms and begins to cry in panic.

"H-Hey, now, don't cry like that..." he awkwardly says, since the people around them begins to stare. Julius then drags her out of the food place and takes her to a crowd-less spot near the fountain. He waits until she finishes crying.

Suddenly, he hears something vibrates from Alice. She frantically picks her phone again.

"E-Edward...? Are you going to pick me up?" she sobs. Her face twitches as she listens to her brother's answer. Julius sweats, since he can hear the older brother is yelling. "W-Well—I'm sorry okay! You know me! Why would I watch my smartphone when I'm eating!?"

"Shut up you sod ugly maggot!"

Julius narrows his eyes at her insult towards her older brother. Well that's not exactly how you want a person to help you out...

"Wha—" Alice pales again, "No! I'm sorry! Pick me up! Pick meeee! Eddiee—NO!" she glares at her phone since her brother hung up abruptly. The girl slaps herself. "I'm an idiot!"

'_Totally_.' Julius nods.

She sniffs again, and slowly, turns to Julius with her tearful eyes. Julius stares back at her for a moment, and then, his eyes widen.

"Oh, no, no you don't." He flinches in realization at where this is going. "You can't stay at my place—you're a girl!"

Alice whines and begins to creep and takes his hand. "Please, please Julius don't abandon me out here, please don't be so cold..."

Julius shivers, totally creeped out. "Wh—No matter how you beg, there's just no way!" he then suddenly gets an idea. "You know what, I'll call a taxi for you—I'll pay for it, so shut up." He hisses before Alice can complain about her empty wallet. The navy-haired teen picks out his cellphone, and Alice begins to wail.

"Oh, Lord Julius, your generosity and kindness—"

"Shut up or I won't call the taxi." He deadpans, and she shuts up right away.


	9. Chapter 9

9\. Evil Mr. Cabbie

* * *

Julius rather pays for her taxi than having her sleeps at his house—he's totally not ready with that. However, when the taxi arrives, he's reminded of the news he just read this morning about suspicious taxi driver and can't help but be concerned. So Alice looks confused when he gets into the taxi with her.

"Julius?" Alice asks.

"Where to go, ladies?" the driver asks warmly.

Both Alice and Julius freeze. The girl then looks away, clamps her mouth, trying not to laugh until her face is red. Julius twitches in anger and faintly blushes.

He smacks her head, since Alice is clearly laughing.

"T-To Liberty Estate, m-mister..." Alice quickly tells the driver while trying not to laugh. Julius huffs, crosses his arms and glares at the window. "He thinks you're a—"

"Shut up!" he hisses at her in a whisper, only to get Alice laughing voicelessly and tearing out of mirth. The taxi begins to drive away from the cinema, and Alice is still trying to hold her laugh. Julius glares at his reflection on the window. It feels like he sees himself for the first time, and even though it hurts, he really is beautiful and looks like a woman.

"Hmph." He pouts. Alice takes a breather and then glances at him curiously.

"So why are you getting on the taxi too? Your house isn't far," she asks.

Julius is still unable to look at her without glaring, so he keeps staring at the trees that pass. "There's a..." he steals a glance at the taxi driver. The teen then inches to whisper at Alice. "I read a news about suspicious taxi driver...just in case..."

"Oh," Alice nods and looks at him. "I'm grateful that you're so considerate, Julius, but if it's really happening," she stares at him with underestimation. "...Can you even help us out?"

Julius twitches.

'_And this is what I get for being concerned.'_

Alice suddenly jolts from her seat and glares at the view outside the window. She gasps, and then nudges his shoulder.

"Julius...this is the opposite direction of my house!" she whispers at him, and Julius' eyes widen.

He glances at the door; they're locked, obviously. Even if they open the doors manually, the driver can just lock it again from his panel. Seeing the streets, it's getting less crowded and they only have a little time to do something before the driver arrives at a secluded place to trap them.

"Julius, I have an idea," she whispers at him, and his eyes widen when she secretly takes out a pocket knife. He's even more surprised when she cuts her fingers. "Listen to me...we have to do this together," she whispers her plan.

Julius agrees to her plan, and they begins to act like they're kissing. Even though they're just inching really close to each other's face, he can't help but feels really nervous.

Suddenly, someone knocks at the glass that separates the driver and the passengers. The driver hums and glances at his rear mirror...

...To see a woman with bleeding eyes in the passenger's seats.

"EEEKK!" the driver steps on the break abruptly and screams.

"Go!" Alice comes up from her hiding beneath the floor after unlocking the doors. Julius dashes out from the left side, while Alice rushes out from the right. The driver curses and begins to chase them.

"Hey! Get back here dirty lesbian sluts!"

Alice laughs at this while running. "Oh man, he calls us lesbian sluts, Julius! Including _you_!"

Julius twitches and does not look back nor wanting to waste his breath yelling at how that's really unnecessary to say at this kind of condition.

Suddenly, a gun shots.

"Julius!" Alice stops running when she catches a glimpse of blood splattered; the bullet grazed Julius' shoulder. He stops abruptly and groans at the pain, glaring at the 'taxi driver' who's running at them with a gun.

Alice then takes Julius hand. "Keep going! Don't look back!"

Of course that's too crazy to do. The villain is holding a gun, for crying out loud! However hard it is, Julius shuts his eyes and keeps running, gripping Alice's hand tightly and tries to ignore the pain in his shoulder. This is too crazy; he never dreams that he'd ever get shot at all. Suddenly, Alice yanks his hand off.

"Alice—"

Another bullet is flying, and Julius is pushed into the ground. He glares to see Alice is still standing after pushing him away.

"Stop! What do you want from us!? Money!?" Alice yells.

"Shut up, I don't want to hurt you," the taxi driver says, shivering. "If you be a good girl, then I'll let you live. Just come with me..." he smiles darkly.

"Are you..." Alice then realizes something. "You're going to sell me to be a prostitute, aren't you?"

The taxi driver laughs. "You're sharp, girl. Now, come and help your friend to get back on the taxi." He says, pointing at Julius with his gun as he approaches Alice.

Alice fidgets. Julius is shivering on the ground, unable to find the moment to move. Way to have the first hang out. They got attacked by a taxi driver and he's going to make them prostitutes. Things can't escalate even worse...

"No, just take me," Alice suddenly says, and Julius freezes. He slowly glances at her in fear, but Alice looks deadly serious. "You don't need him—he's a guy," she says to the driver.

The taxi driver hums. "Oh, well...I'll take what I can get. Just get on the taxi now." He says and points his gun at Julius again. "Get on or I'll kill your friend." He smirks. Julius freeze on the ground.

Alice laughs coldly. "Friend? Are you kidding me...?" she laughs again.

Julius' eyes widen; her words ring coldly in his head. Her laughs are pounding his head into nausea and pain.

"But he's not my friend," Alice scoffs and crosses her arms. "You can kill him for all I care—shoot him dead. I'd be glad to be rid of him as long as I can live. You'll probably kill me if he reports to the police, right?"

The taxi driver laughs. "I like how smart you are...I'll make sure you're treated well, girl..." he then smirks at Julius and reloads his gun. "Well, you're right. We can't get this pretty boy to yap at the officers, now can we?"

Julius' breaths are short. His eyes are wide, his pupils shiver as the gun's hollow snout is aimed at him. He feels really empty right now.

'_I'm...going to die...'_ he thinks and glares at the girl looking down at him coldly. '_I'm...betrayed again...'_

'_And I'm going to die because of it...'_


	10. Chapter 10

10\. Wanna Lay Low

Blood splatters. A pained scream.

"Okay now run!" Alice yells and pulls her pocket knife from the vile man's armed hand. She takes her chance to slap away the gun off his hand. The man curses and glares at them filled with hatred, frantically tries to reach for his gun on the ground.

"Not so fast!"

Julius kicks the gun further and begins to run alongside Alice, who's screaming in fright.

"I stab a man!" she cries. "I'm a criminal!"

"Save your breath!" Julius yells at her and grabs her hand, trying to get her run faster. The two run like crazy and don't even dare to look back. Julius is too busy to run out of fright and steals a glance to the crying girl, whom he thought would really leave him to die.

'_She saved my life, Good Lord.'_ He twitches in disbelief. '_I'm still alive. I thought I was going to die.'_

The stops when they arrive at a quite crowded street. Gasping for air, Julius still can't believe the things happened in the last twelve hours; it was all because she came to learn some god damned statistics. Alice cries again hysterically.

"Jesus Christ! I really thought you're going to die, man!" Alice yanks and shakes his shoulders frantically. "I really didn't think it'd work out! My God, I stabbed a man! I'm almost taken away to be a prostitute!"

"Calm the hell down!" Julius yanks her hands off his shoulders, which still hurt from the shot. She shuts up but glares at him tearfully, and he glares back at her still shivering. "I...I really thought you're going to leave me to die..." he sighs weakly. "Your acting is terrifying."

"I'm sorry...your shoulder..." she cringes and eyes his bleeding shoulder. Julius sighs, and then catches the sight of her hands, reminded that she cut her fingers and used her blood to put a fake horror make up on his face.

Alice seems to read his mind, and points at the nearest sink. The two then wash their face, hands, and Alice tries to clean up his wound, saying that he'll get infection if he doesn't at least clean it.

They are calmed down after a while of silence, sitting on the bench, still drenched in sweat cold. Julius facepalms at a stupid idea that he should never leave his home ever again, but then Alice speaks again.

"So...how are we going home, now? I don't know where we are..."

He just realized it as well and glares at his surrounding. She's not joking, neither of them know where they are except that they're far away from their homes.

Alice whimpers and begins to whine again. "Aughh...You're probably too freaked out now and you won't let me hang around again, will you...? You probably think I'm bringing bad luck, aren't you? Julius, I swear, I don't bring bad luck! This is the first time this ever happens, okay? I—"

"Shut up," Julius snaps coldly, and then catches a Police Station nearby. "I have an idea."

~.X.~

Sunday evening. Julius slowly wakes up from his sleep. He had never stayed up until dawn, and he feels terrible. He knows that it wasn't Alice's fault that they had to go through a Saturday night running away from an evil taxi driver, but he can't help and begin to overthink everything. Julius sits on his bed and begins to draw a graphic of his future on his mind.

The final image drawn in his mind completely wakes Julius. Cold gleams in his eyes and he forces his tired body to get off the bed. Going to the bathroom and cleaning up himself, he then gets down. He drinks some water and brew some coffee while trying to find something to eat.

Julius stares at the bread he'd bought from the supermarket. He usually ate that all the time, and after a few days enjoying proper delicious dinners, those breads looked really boring. He shakes his head and begins to eat one anyway.

Finishing his plain breakfast, Julius continues his day and starts to study. He's surprised by how many things he had forgotten and this causes him to worry. The navy-haired teen grabs his coffee mug and sips the caffeine.

It's really irritating when he find himself waiting for no one to fill his mug when it's been empty for an hour. He groans and drags himself up to make more coffee.

"I'm being spoiled..." he mumbles with a distasteful scowl as he watches the fire beneath the kettle.

Other than the ticking and coo coo voices of the antique clock, his house was back into the peaceful silence.

Yet, for some reason, the silence now is killing him.

Julius shakes his head.

"After tomorrow's presentation, I'm never talking to that weirdo ever again." He promises himself.


	11. Chapter 11

11\. Metamorphed

* * *

Alice slams the newspaper to his desk on Monday, excited gleam and silly grin on her face. Julius frowns at her before looking at the article she's pointing at, and he lets out a groan. The police actually wanted to reward and publish their achievement in reporting and beating the suspicious—evil taxi driver, but the two frantically declined.

"**Two Teenagers Helped in the Arrest of Trafficking Taxi Driver"**

Alice squeals. "Being appreciated without getting into the spotlight feels good!" she says and skips back to her seat. "We almost died, but it was fun, huh, Julius?"

'_It was NOT.'_ Julius snaps in his mind, glaring coldly at the girl. He sighs and cradles his head with his hand. If the police actually got their names in the news, his parents will probably freak out.

"Monrey and Liddell, it's your turn for the presentation," the teacher calls. Alice takes her laptop and Julius tidies up his papers. The two quickly get in front of the class and Alice connects the laptop with the projector.

At the sight of Julius, and when he clears his throat, everyone falls silent and pays full attention to him. Alice smiles nervously.

'_He's quite charismatic for a wallflower...'_ she thinks, impressed. When Julius nods at her, she starts their presentation, and Puck comes out on the screen.

"Good day, people! Thou shalt call me Puck. Along with Julius, we shalt guide thou and enjoy the wonderful _Midsummer Night Dream_~!" Puck cheerfully opens the presentation.

The class looks amused and entranced by Puck's bright attitude.

"Thank you, Puck. Now, I'm sure most of you know that Shakespeare wrote this play," Julius begins, and Puck sighs, shrugging his shoulders.

"Thou don't say, Julius. Milady Titania will cry, shalt anyone here knows otherwise!"

Julius rolls his eyes. "Thank you, Puck. Now let's cut the chase and get to the point; Midsummer Night Dream is about Puck screwing up his job, making Titania falls for a donkey-headed commoner and people falling in love with the wrong person."

The class tries to hold from laughing, since Julius looks really serious as he begins to walk away from the front of the class. Puck gasps and cries.

"No! Wait, thy presentation, 'tis not over!" Puck cries. "We shalt introduce the Queen, the King—the characters, yes! 'Tis far from over, Julius!"

Suddenly, there's a black out—the projector shuts down in a blink. Julius freezes and glances to Alice, who looks really shocked. She glances back to Julius, pleading for salvation, but Julius shakes his head, since this is definitely not in the plan.

"Ah, this isn't good," the teacher sighs. "Well, please continue on manually. I won't give you less credit, of course, as long as you mail me the presentation file—if you please, Monrey, Liddell?"

Alice abruptly stands from behind her laptop, but that's all. She shivers with wide eyes on the entire class, looking really small. Julius has only known her for a week, but he has never seen her that way—he can't help but pity her.

"Well, so, the story began when Theseus plans to arrange his marriage. For some reason, Hermia is also arranged to marry a guy named Lyssander—"

"J-Julius, that's...that's not how you present anything about classic lit..." Alice blurts out, and she flinches when all eyes are on her. Julius is starting to understand what's getting at her. Her eyes look teary, and her breaths are short, but she continues on. "E...Everyone! Sorry for the delay," she clears her throat and takes a deep breath.

And something suddenly transforms before Julius.

Alice takes out her illustrations paper. "First of all, this is the beautiful Fairy Queen, Titania...and her husband, Oberon. Although the story begins from Theseus, why don't we take a different view? You see, Oberon wanted this Indian person to be his knight, but Titania disapprove..." she switches the illustration; "Thus, here comes Puck—Oberon ordered him to get a magic flower, from which a potion will be made. The potion should be sprinkled on the target's eyelids—the victim will fall in love for the person he or she sees the first time..."

Julius frowns as he takes a seat and somehow, Alice has taken over the entire presentation. He glances at the class, who are laughing and paying attention—they are interested and charmed. He watches Alice again.

'_She doesn't look like she's afraid at all,_' he thinks. '_She doesn't need me at all.'_

He smiles to himself.

'_If this is how it is, then there's no more reason for me to hang around her. Now I should focus on my studies.'_


	12. Chapter 12

12\. The Legendary Dogeza!

* * *

After the Classic Lit class is over, they have P.E. to get over with. Julius is preparing his shirt and leaves the class. Alice's desk is surrounded by their classmates, wanting to chit-chat, but she looks nervous and all shy again. Though Julius ignores her—it wasn't his business anymore.

Julius finishes putting on his shirt and washes his face on the sink. He then uses his towel to wipe his face while walking out of the changing room, to see Alice is sitting by the door. He almost jumps at her presence.

"Uh, you—the girl's changing room is over there," Julius says.

Alice looks up at him for a moment, and stands up, laughing wryly.

"Yeah, I know," she lets out a sigh. "I told everyone that I'm waiting for you so that they'll leave me alone, that's why I'm here," she crosses her arms with a sad look. "Man, I can't get into the changing room—those girls will probably talk to me!"

Julius stares at her for a while, and then shrugs. "I don't understand what's your problem," he says, walking towards his locker. "You didn't have any problem in front of the class earlier. Now you're using me to make people stay away from you."

"But—it was just an act," Alice says immediately, and Julius pauses to hear her serious tone. "You've seen it many times, haven't you, Julius? You've said it yourself, my acting is terrifying. I can even lie to myself."

Julius begins to understand more. Acting. It seems that she's very terrific on acting, but doing that somehow tires and makes her sick or really nervous. Whenever she's finished acting, she'd be frantic or laughing nervously.

He remembers how she sighed in relief after her mature acting when his mother came home. How she tricked the taxi driver into believing her—he even believed that she was going to leave him to die—and then she ran away while screaming about how she couldn't believe it worked.

"Hey, do you think I should skip P.E.?" she asks casually.

This, he doesn't understand. She can get really tired and distant when having to socialize with others, but she keeps following him around like a puppy. Why? Isn't she tired acting considerate towards him?

"It's none of my business, make your own choice," Julius deadpans.

"Then, I'm going to skip! I want to take a nap..." Alice grins cheerfully, and then begs at Julius. "If the teacher asks about me, can you tell me I'm ill?"

Julius twitches. "Huh? Why?"

"Well—I don't want everyone thinking that I'm lazy for skipping P.E. for taking a nap," Alice says honestly, and he can't help but gets really irritated.

"But you are being lazy." He scowls at her, and then looks at his wristwatch. "Whatever, I'm going to be late for the class. If you're not going to attend the class, I'm not going to lie about anything."

Alice sighs. "You're so amazing, Julius..." she turns and begins to walk towards the girl's changing room.

Julius frowns.

'_What's...amazing about me?'_

~.X.~

"Look! I get the same ponytail as you are, Julius!" Alice cheers as she skips out of the changing room. Julius frowns.

"You're fast."

"Well, I never put on make up—what's the point, right?" she shrugs. "I'm more surprised that you're waiting for me, thanks." She grins and then begin to walk to the gym.

They make it to the gym on time—the teacher hasn't even arrived yet. The girls are chatting or texting on the sidelines while the boys are playing catch and soccer. Julius begins stretching. When he's finished with his arms and is stretching his neck from left to right, he just realized that Alice is following him.

"Are you...following me?"

"Well, what am I supposed to do?" Alice asks bluntly. Julius rolls his eyes and decides to ignore her.

He just noticed that she's not so talkative today. If she's not leaving him alone, he's expecting her to talk about movies or books, or random things. Julius steals a glance to Alice, noticing from her face that she's worn out. Supposedly, having the presentation has taken out her 'social energy' too much.

"Hey, Julius," Alice calls him when she's stretching her legs. "Do you know how many people in this school talks about you? It's nothing good."

Julius stretches his legs as well, and then stands up, patting his hands. "I know that, but what do I care," he says indifferently and walks to lean to the gym's wall. Alice stops stretching her legs to watch him, and smiles wryly. He goes to the water dispenser and drinks a little.

'_I don't depend on them, so who cares,'_ he thinks to himself.

Today's practice is to run a mile, circling the running tracks. Since Julius decided to not depend on anyone at school, this attitude attracted many bullies. He's expected this, so he had trained to defense himself, and he never misses a day of jogging at dawn. Not only in school studies, he can also do well in sports, but he doesn't plant to do anything fancy.

Although, when most students are giving up half of the mile, Julius once again is wrong on his judgment; Alice is lightly running alongside of him.

'_Huh, so she's not bad at everything, at least...'_

"Alice Liddell! That's enough! That's two miles already!" the coach yells.

"Huh? I didn't realize that!" Alice yells back and runs back to the coach, leaving Julius to finish his mile and ponder about something else.

'_No, it's not like that.'_ He twitches and watches the dark blonde is laughing shyly with the coach. '_She doesn't have a brain, that's why, physical stuff is easy for her...That must be it.'_ He nods to himself.

~.X.~

Despite what he had been promising to himself, Julius once again finds himself with Alice in his house. He's studying, and she's watching an anime in her laptop, laughing once in a while. He mentally groans.

'_How did this happen, again..._'

He thinks back to half an hour ago, and can't believe it himself.

When the school's over, Alice got a call from her sister.

"Hello, Lorina? What's wrong?" she asks, and listens to what her sister's explaining, and her face looks bored. "Cleaning the fridge—why me—I mean, I can't, I still have a group project with Julius, Lorina!"

Julius freezes from cleaning up his books, and stoically turns to the girl who smoothly lies without guilt on her face.

'_No! Why is she doing this?'_

"I'm sorry, Ina..." Alice says apologetically. "So good luck with that rotten baloney! James forgot about it two weeks ago and I think there are maggots eating it—bye!" she clicks her phone off, and then turns to Julius with a big grin. "So, Julius, I hope you've been overhearing that! I can't go home, or I'll have to deal with James' rotten baloney...So—"

"No." Julius immediately says and begins to leave the class, but Alice jumps into his way and bows deeply. He flinches when the students left in the class begin to stare.

"Please! Julius! I'm begging you!" Alice whispers beggingly. "I won't bother you, I swear! I'll play with my laptop—Just don't let me go home and face that rotten fridge, please, Julius..." she clasps her hands.

Julius doesn't look at her eyes, since they're always winning him over, and coldly looks away.

"No can do, Alice. Don't disturb me anymore. I don't want to have anything to do with you after that presentation," he points out his decision honestly, and hopes she's hurt enough to leave him alone.

But no.

That only makes the scene worse, since Alice begins to kneel on the ground.

And she shamelessly worshiped him. The gesture of begging that he'd seen in Japan. The dogeza.

"Please, Julius! I don't care if you don't think of me as a friend—"

"Whoah, why is Liddell kneeling for Monrey like that?"

"Poor girl! Did Monrey do something to her?"

"Hey, she's beginning to worship him!"

Julius frantically drags her out of the class.

"Fine, fine, stop worshiping me and promise me never do that again!" he hisses in frustration, face flustered and yanks his hand off her when they got out of the school building. Alice is already cheering.

"La, la, la~ I can't promise that, Julius~! If I didn't do that, you'll never let me, right?"

Julius glares down at her. "Don't you have any shame..." he facepalms.

"I don't have anything like that," Alice easily says and shrugs, beginning to count with her fingers; "I have no honor, no shame, no dignity, no brain—"

"I get the point." He deadpans and holds his hands up to shut her. "Whatever. Let's go and promise not to bother my study."

Never again he'd let her do a dogeza. He rather jump out of a window.


	13. Chapter 13

13\. Resistance from Friendship

* * *

And that's how he finds himself with Alice in his house. As she promised, she didn't bother him. Alice wears her headphone while watching her anime in her laptop, and he studies physics silently. Having her across him forces him to concentrate even more and burns him out than usual. When he's about to make some coffee, he just realized the mug that's already in front of his book.

Julius slowly stares at Alice who's busy watching, holding a mug of coffee for herself, laughing silently several times. He shrugs and decides to enjoy the coffee, despite his blend is still much better than hers.

Julius likes studying. It's something he can do better than most people; solving problems by practicing it over and over. If only friends and family are that simple. Unfortunately, friendship and family bonds aren't something you can mess up several times before getting it right. They scares Julius; he doesn't like making mistakes for things that can't be fixed.

The look of disappointment, the awkwardness, the expectations burdened him more than his obligations to get good scores at school. He feels really awkward when his parents are trying to re-do things with him and be more reasonable. He doesn't understand what his parents are expecting. He doesn't understand Alice Liddell—does she expect them to be friends? No. Did he treat her nice? No—he's trying to make her leave, but she persists. He doesn't know what to expect as well.

He stares at the coffee mug in his hand with a thoughtful frown, tormented and confused.

Even she's saying that they're not friends, yet, she's treating him like a...

Julius sets down his mug and decides to make things clear.

"Alice," he calls her, and realizes that she won't hear him through her headphone. When he think of dropping it, he surprises her again by responding.

"Hm? What is it?" she asks, taking off her headphone. It seems she notices that he's taken aback, and grins. "Don't worry, I don't maximize the volume, so if you need anything, you can talk to me whenever—Do you want me to go home?"

Julius stares at her and take a deep breath. "I just want to ask..."

"Yeah?"

"Why are you..." he can't look into her earnest eyes, so he glances away. "Why are you treating me like a friend...? You know that I don't want to be your friend, right?"

Alice looks as if she's not surprised, raising her eyebrows calmly, and then giggles. She pushes her laptop to her side so that she can face Julius clearly, and crosses her arms on the table.

"I know and I...accept that you don't think of me as a friend—more like a pest, right?"

"Exactly," Julius nods immediately, and she flinches.

'_Thanks for your honesty!'_ she laughs in her mind, and looks a bit shy and awkward, reminds Julius of when they were eating out for the first time.

"Well...it doesn't matter what you think of me, Julius," she shrugs and smiles sincerely to him. "Uhm...this is...going to be really embarrassing for me to say!" she looks down to her lap and takes a deep breath. "But despite what you think...to me...you are my first friend, Julius!"

Julius stiffens in his seat, eyes wide. The girl lets out a big sigh, looking slightly flustered. "God, I can't believe I said that! I guess I do have a bit of pride, somewhere...But—you can laugh if you want, don't hold back, Julius," she nods to him seriously, urging him to laugh.

He holds his hands up again. "Hold it—I told you, we're not friends, so why are you still..."

"It's fine if it's one-sided," she quickly says, also holding her hands up. He drops his hands, and she laughs awkwardly. "I think of you as a friend, even if you don't think of me as one." She rephrased her words, awkwardly putting a strand of her hair behind her ear.

Julius can't understand and can't find himself to be able to look at her honest and sad face. It's the first time he finds someone who sincerely wants to be his friend. He looks away.

"I didn't really expect this either..." she begins again. "I know a lot of people are curious and want to get to know me...but I really...I can't be myself with them. When I get so comfortable, I'll show how weird I am...some thinks of me as disturbing and begins to avoid me..." Alice looks down with a sad smile.

"Some think of me as hilarious and only find me to get entertained...I have to...rack my brain and find interesting things to talk about, joke about, or even embarrass myself to make them laugh...and I'm really tired."

"Sometimes I also say nasty things, stabbing people with my words...I don't really understand myself, I'm not like fictional characters with constant personality—like Julius, you're always so silent, straightforward, cold and diligent...everyone knows that," Alice grins again. "And me...I'm...I'm just...weird."

The silence comes again. The two looks away from each other. Julius still can't comprehend why will anyone not want to accept this girl as she is. Someone who can enjoy a wide arrange of moods; serious talks, silence, thrills, small talks...she even considers someone like _him_ as a friend.

Alice lets out a sigh. "And...and then you, Julius. You don't judge me—well, you do think of me as stupid and annoying, but you don't care. Even though you say spiteful things, I don't feel really sad, because that's how you treat everyone, and I don't really care," she laughs, "That's just how some people are, no one should expect them to change—I just hope everyone else can think like that for me."

And that's why she acts freely around him. Alice always acts shy and conservative around others but him. He kind of understands that; the others have expectations in socializing. He doesn't want them to expect anything, so he shuts them all, letting them judge him, but he doesn't care. Alice tries to get out of the spotlight so that no one will try to approach and then judge her, but that also effectively makes people respect and not judge her.

'_We just don't want to be judged...'_ Julius thinks, turning the mug of the warm coffee in his hands. '_We just want people to shut up and let us be ourselves.'_

"That's why, like I said, you're amazing, Julius!" Alice suddenly exclaims. "I mean, you're smart and athletic, so you don't need anyone at school—even though everyone says a lot of shit about you, and you're just like; _zero fucks given_! I wish I can be that cool, man."

He can't help but cringe at her drastic change of speech. Ah, this is what she meant with 'nasty things'.

That's how they deal with people's judgment.

He runs away—turning his back onto their judgment and be himself. Alice tries to be invisible to _avoid_ being judged, by acting shy and reserved. Of course, she's bound to get tired of it.

"Well, whatever," Julius shrugs and cleans up his books. "Just keep in mind that I don't think of you as your friend. Don't expect me to act nice and help you all the time, Alice."

"Yes, sir," Alice nods and begins to turn off her laptop. "It's getting late, I think I should go now. Thanks for letting me ditch my sister, hohoho," she then collects their mugs and washes them in his kitchen before leaving.

Julius locks the door after she left and let out a relieved sigh. He then scowls to himself, clamping his mouth. He was just smiling for a second there.

'_Why am I getting happy about this...?'_ he reminds himself. '_Remember, Julius. When both of you are assigned to different classes, she will probably forget about you. Isn't that why you've been shutting out everyone?'_


	14. Chapter 14

14\. The Otakus Around Me

* * *

Despite his resolution, Julius just still can't push the persistent, annoying dark blonde, since she doesn't bother his study—rather, while not admitting this to her face, she's quite helpful and helps him refreshed with her quirks. Since she hates going home, she often visits his home and do his housework despite he's told her that she doesn't need to do anything.

"Why do you hate going home anyway?" he asks, can't help but curious as she diligently wash the dishes he had piled up the other day.

"Ah, that, I hate doing housework very much," she shrugs.

"But you're doing housework for me," he deadpans, getting more confused.

Alice begins to wipe the plates and frowns at Julius. "Man, if only you know the things they make me do! I have to wash the laundries—including my brothers' underpants," Julius twitches and slightly blushes, "And then cook for eleven people—that's not easy, not to mention if they're piling dishes! Sometimes I have to clean the bathroom, bathe the cats, clean up the litter boxes, grocery shopping..."

Julius still can't believe the things she has to do at home. "You do all that...? What about your sisters...and brothers, they should be able to help you,"

Alice stops her handwork for a moment. For a moment there, anger crosses her face, but then she smiles.

"Heh, that's why I ditch them. Those babies need to earn their keep when I'm not around, right? They can't always depend on me, Lorina, James and Edward. Edward is going to get married, so he's going to move out soon. James is going abroad for his next college degree. Lorina is going to nurse academy, she's really busy—I just hope everyone can understand our condition, you know,"

He hesitates when she paused earlier, but he wonders if trying make her younger siblings independent is all the case.

"What about your parents? Are they as busy as mine...?"

Julius notices how she grips the edge of the plate in her hands, and he quickly looks away. Alice clears her throat and looks down. It seems the whole point is about her parents. Julius reminds himself to keep to himself—he shouldn't pry her life so much, since he doesn't even consider her as a friend.

"You know what," he stands up from the kitchen counter, "Nevermind, I don't care. It's none of my business anyway,"

"Y-Yeah, you're right, haha..."

Perhaps it's because she's forgetful or just acting as if she's forgotten, Alice acts as if they'd never talked about that topic anymore. She doesn't visit him everyday, and she really doesn't bother his study. Things begin to get serious when it's close with midterm season. Julius studies everyday, that's normal—however, he decides that Alice gets even more annoying when he's trying to study.

"Study? Why?" Alice asks back when a guy curiously asked about her study routine. Elliot March, the one who asked, laughs at her response.

"Oh, I know, right? This is all just a piece of cake to you—You look really smart, Alice," he grins boyishly, and Alice's eyes widened, before glancing to Julius, signaling for help.

Julius ignores her, returning to his textbook.

"I'm...I'm not smart at all..." she laughs nervously, slowly trying to be honest. "I'm...really slow, actually—right, Julius?"

'_Don't drag me into this!_' Julius deadpans mentally. He glances and considers about giving her a word or two, but then notices that Elliot stares at him coldly. Julius decides to completely ignore her charade.

Suddenly, the ginger laughs. "Man, does he always do that? Gets nervous when someone glares at him, hey, Alice?"

Alice looks surprised and quickly turns to see Julius looking away. "Eh? Really? Julius—you don't like being glared at?"

"Who likes being glared at...?" he mumbles, irritated when the two laughs at him. He gets a little flustered, but then steals a glance again to the two only to see them grinning at him. Julius flinches and quickly looks away again.

Elliot smirks and stares at Alice observantly. "You're not shy at all, Alice—why are you acting like one? Trying to get invisible?"

Alice flinches, and Julius has to hold from laughing, because Elliot hits the nail. The girl turns again at him and hisses him to shut up. Elliot hums.

"Huh~ So you're really not shy...It's actually interesting to see that you have the balls to tell Monrey to shut up, Alice. Why don't you just be yourself?" he asks curiously.

Alice bursts out laughing. "Ah...hahaha! Hahaha! Ahahaahhahaha!" she slaps her knee, and then abruptly stops. "I'm seriously trying to hold back myself from doing it, so don't push me, or hell will break loose, Elliot,"

Julius cradles his head, unable to concentrate to the logarithm in his textbook and groans. Elliot chuckles.

"Why? What's wrong with being yourself?"

"Well...If I be myself, then.." Alice hums thoughtfully, and then snaps her fingers, "The comparison is _Miley Cyrus_,"

For some reason, both Elliot and Julius begin to imagine Alice wearing nothing, licking a hammer and swinging on a wrecking ball, and they shiver. Noticing Julius' expression, Alice looks surprised.

"Whoa, Julius—You know Miley Cyrus! Now that's quite something. I mean, I'd never—"

"I watch TV, you know," Julius deadpans, feeling really insulted. Though of course, if he's to take a topic for a discussion, Miley Cyrus wil never be the first thing on his list to talk about. He'd rather not talk at all!

Elliot smirks and hums again, leaning his chin to his hands. "Heh~ You two are quite interesting actually. Julius Monrey is certainly infamous, but I don't understand why people can't just deal with it—and how can you deal with him, Alice,"

Alice and Julius stares at Elliot as if he's grown a third head, and the two exchange stares before glaring at Elliot.

"I can't deal with him!"

"I don't think I can deal with her,"

"You have to be melodramatic to make him agree to you—I even have to worship him—"

"She's so pushy—who would want to be around someone like that?"

Elliot laughs and waves at the two to stop them. "Now, now, guys...all things good! I'm here just to find out if the rumors are true or not—everyone thinks that the two of you are dating, so—uh..." he stops when he sees the main characters are having disgusted, disbelief glares at each other.

'_Me, dating this weirdo?'_ Julius twitches.

'_Ew, but he's 3D real-life tsundere hermit! ...Hm...or a kuudere. Whatever.'_ Alice grimaces. She's quick to respond at Elliot with a smile.

"Ahah, I don't date real-life guys—My life and my heart belong to hot 2D bishounen and ikemen, sorry," she smoothly says with dreamy eyes while clasping her hands at that.

'_See!? She's crazy!'_ Julius grimaces in disgust.

Elliot grasps her hands and stares at her intensely, nodding vigorously.

"I understand, Alice—The standard gaps between 3D girls and 2D _moe_ chicks are the exact same of hell and heaven!"

"See! You get me, brother!"

Julius narrows his eyes. '_Why am I surrounded by these psycho freaks?'_

Elliot turns out to be from Class-C, and he wants to know Alice because he recognizes her illustrations are similar to the artist he's been following on DeviantArt. Obviously, Alice is the same artist that he's been following. Julius notices that Alice looks unaffected after her interaction with Elliot, so he assumes that talking with another 2D-obsessed weirdo is like talking to _him_.

'_But...I'm not a 2D-obsessed weirdo._' He mentally deadpans. It seems that he won't ever get the pattern of how Alice drains her energy from social interactions.

Finally the school begins, so Elliot has to return to his class. Instead of tired, Julius notices that Alice looks like she's in a really good-mood after finding 'the-likes-of-her' is actually exist in the school—which worries Julius about the possibility that he has to be surrounded by these people.

'_I hope I don't specifically attract these types,_' he prays in his heart.


	15. Chapter 15

15\. Do Not Insult the Pasta!

* * *

It seems that his prayer isn't granted, but for some reason, it gets worse—Alice and Elliot push their way to eat on Julius' desk and he can only try and keep his books away in his drawer.

"Why...do you have to eat here," Julius deadpans.

"Because we're a circle of this school's lonely people, so we have to eat together, duh," Elliot says this as if it's really obvious, and bites off his carrot sandwich.

'_Carrot sandwich? Who eats that except this freak?'_ Julius twitches as he watches the big guy eats the weird sandwich. Alice as usual, brings her own lunchbox.

"But you're not lonely, Elliot—You hang out with Blood Dupre, right?" Alice asks, and since it's unexpected, Elliot chokes. He spends a good twenty seconds of trying to cough his sandwich out.

"H-How did you...?" Elliot stares at her in fear, and Julius gets a bit suspicious but curious as well—Alice isn't popular, but she knows a lot about people who don't know her.

"Your brother worked in the Dupre Innovation Corp.—he's friends with Reginald Dupre, the first-in-command, right?" Alice says, and her eyes narrows at him as if expecting a reaction as she eats her fried shrimp.

For a second there, Julius can clearly see Elliot looks really shaken. Alice sighs.

"It's not really released that widely in the media—but my brother just talks about your brother's case last night, and he tells you that you attend this school. I'm really sorry about what happened to your brother, Elliot—and I know I can't say anything better, so I'm sorry,"

Elliot is silent for a while, staring at his sandwich. He then clears his throat and laughs awkwardly.

"Wow, I...didn't expect that, heh..." he then realizes something, "Wait, you have an older brother, Alice?"

Julius can't help but answer it for him; "She has nine siblings," he deadpans, leaving Elliot gapes.

"Whoa—that's...just wow, in quantity, I guess. So how does your older brother know about Lancelot?" Elliot asks, carefully eating his sandwich again.

"Oh, that," Alice takes a sip of her canned soda. "My eldest brother, Edward Harry Liddell is a lawyer, and, well, he often goes to watch trials, of course," she shrugs. "And news like that aren't really hard to hear for lawyers, right?"

"I guess...that's true," Elliot has a hard expression on his face, and then stares at Julius. "What about you? Do you have siblings...or your parents do stuff?"

Julius grimaces. Compared to Alice, he's really boring. He's a single child, spends time studying, has no other hobbies, the end.

"Compared to her...well...I'm really boring," he honestly admits.

"What are you talking about? Your grandpa's a famous clockmaker, Joseph Fitzwilliam Monrey—your parents are prosecutors!" Alice exclaims at him, looking both surprised and confused. "Like, Edward is a lawyer, but he's a huge fan of your parents. I didn't realize that you're their son until I met your mother that one time, and when I told Edward about it, he's like..."

Alice gestures an explosion with her hands. "...Went really angry because I actually handshakes and joke around her. But, man, I really love rubbing that on his face, that stupid Ed,"

Elliot laughs as Alice continues to tell them about her siblings. Julius is still surprised that Alice even knows him that much—yet, he doesn't really know much about her. Maybe it was one of the perks of having so many siblings. It's also somewhat relieving to know that she's not sticking to him because she knows his parents from the beginning...It's like she's interested just on him.

'_Wait, what am I thinking!?'_ he facepalms.

"So, hey, Julius, I wonder—you never eat during lunchbreak, don't you feel hungry?" Alice asks.

"Man, I always feel hungry whenever a class is over...Using my brain makes me hungry, you know," Elliot says, and Alice nods in agreement. "Maybe Monrey is a monk who's taking a fast or something?"

"Of course not," Julius deadpans. "I don't feel hungry if I study..."

'_So I'm really hungry right now because you idiots are eating on my desk, obviously,'_

"Huh, then have some—bet you're hungry because you're not studying, huh?" Alice reads his mind and pushes her lunchbox to him. "I'll just sleep through the last period, so I won't feel hungry." She shrugs.

'_But you always sleep in every period.'_ He mentally snaps. Julius hesitates, but takes a fried shrimp, dipping it in the mayo before eating it. '_I guess this is the first time I'm eating at school.'_ He can't help but feels a bit happy about it.

"How is it? Do you like it?" Alice asks curiously, and Julius reluctantly mentally admits that it's really good.

"Not bad," he scoffs.

Alice narrows her eyes on him. "Right. You ate all my shrimps—Not bad? Just that?"

Julius twitches and stubbornly crosses his arms. "Well it's your fault that I get hungry—you idiots just have to eat on my desk, so I can't study. I don't think I have to praise you for that," he coldly says.

"Ouch, man," Elliot laughs awkwardly.

"Grumpy hermit," Alice scoffs, and smirks when he flinches. "Well, whatever! Elliot, it's going to be the next period soon, shouldn't you go back to your class?"

"Yeah, see ya later, Alice—Monrey, too," Elliot reluctantly adds to Julius.

Julius scoffs and pulls his handkerchief out to wipe his oily hands. He still doesn't forget that he's not friends with Alice and has no plan on being nice to her—she shouldn't be so hopeful of him, and he wants to crush her hopes on her one-sided-friendship idea.

~.X.~

Yet the cycle worsen, as once again the two have to eat on his desk—this time Alice brings additional lunch made just for Julius so he can join the conversation without feeling hungry.

"I want to study," Julius deadpans, despite how inviting the lunchbox in front of his is.

"Seriously?" Alice looks at him as if he's crazy. "Are you really going to choose studying over delicious pasta? Pssh!" she waves her hand and laughs. The girl turns to Elliot. "So what do you have for today?"

"Carrot gelatin with carrot cupcake filling—want some?" Elliot eagerly offers and Alice nods, frowning at the orange food.

"Is it just me or you're a carrot freak?" she looks up to him and asks bluntly.

"S-So what!?" he snaps, flustered. Alice laughs but eat the weird gelatine anyway. Julius groans and reluctantly opens his lunchbox only to release the super appetizing aroma of pasta. He mentally groans at his defeat and reluctantly begins to eat it.

'_Damn, Julius...this is a mistake...don't get used to this...'_ he mentally reminds himself, all the while devouring the pasta.

Her cooking is fearfully delicious that it has become his weakness.

"Anyway, it's near midterm—it's just next week, man. I don't feel like I've learned anything," Elliot starts the topic, and the guys freeze when the girl between them hangs her head down.

"Damn, Elliot—Should we not!?" Alice whines. "The whole plan I'm pushing us to Julius' table is so that he's not studying during lunch, so that I don't have to be nagged by this guilt at the back of my head that wants me to start studying—when I know it's pointless, so why do you have to bring that up and ruin everything—just, why?"

"Uh, because we're high school students close mid-terms and I don't have any other idea for topics?" Elliot answers honestly, and Alice groans. "If that's your reaction, I guess you're as bad as you're saying, Alice,"

Julius huffs. "Exactly. She's really dumb—it's so terrifying and frustrating. It's also irritating that she keeps sleeping during lessons without guilt."

Alice whimpers. "But I'm so tired...I have to do housework and then I have to watch anime and play my games—"

"You should stop watching and playing for at least a week to study." Julius deadpans, beginning to get irritated.

"Aww, but I just can't!" Alice pulls her hair. "I tried, I really tried—but then my PC is like, calling me, like..._Come here, Alice...ditch that books...they're boring...here, come to get salvation...meet the 2D angels...this is true heaven..._And I just..." she shrugs in defeat.

Elliot laughs at her antics, but Julius is really irritated. He doesn't like anyone who's looking down at school lessons and be lazy about it—he especially doesn't like anyone who blames anything else for being lazy. Though of course, why should he care?

"Whatever," Julius finishes his pasta. "It's none of my business anyway."

"Now, now, Julius, you're her friend, why don't you help her study?" Elliot suggests. "I'm sure she can concentrate better if someone guides her, you know?"

Alice flinches and looks away, but Julius scoffs at the suggestion, making Elliot surprised.

"You're really mistaken, March," Julius coldly says, closing the lunchbox. "She's not my friend. She's just a pest. I can appreciate the pasta, but I can't appreciate her motive...I don't need lazy irresponsible weirdo around me and tries to drag me down with her," he says nastily, but Alice just looks stubborn for some reason.

"Hey...you don't have to go that far, calling her that..." Elliot scowls, feeling the atmosphere turning tense.

"Because I'll hurt her feelings? That's good," Julius pushes away the lunchbox to Alice and begins to pull his books out from his drawer. "Maybe she'll go away and I can go back to my peaceful studying, good riddance," he sighs and begins to ignore them both.

Elliot frowns in worry and awkwardly glances at Alice, who's scowling at her knees. She then slowly takes her lunchboxes and sets them on her own desk before exiting the classroom. Seeing that Julius is totally ignoring this, Elliot rolls his eyes and goes to follow Alice.

~.X.~

Elliot finds her at the school's backyard, kicking the fence. He's shocked when he hears her colorful vocabulary for the first time.

"Why can't he just say that pasta is fucking super!?"

'_She's just bothered about that!?'_ Elliot screams in his thought.

"Oh yes, I'll eat your pasta and finish it while complaining about what a dumb bitch you are and shove back your lunchbox while telling you to fuck off so I can get back to my study—no, I can't praise your pasta, what the hell? Julius you jerk! Italy is disappointed of you!" Alice angrily yanks the fence and shakes it wildly.

She kicks the fence and lets out a deep sigh.

Elliot shivers, waiting what else she has in store to curse, but then she puts hands on her hips and laugh.

"Ha! That feels so much better!"

He can't help but facepalms. Guess he's worried over nothing. Alice turns and notices him, eagerly skips to Elliot who's frowning at her.

"What is it, Elliot?" she asks, as if Julius' bashing earlier had never happened.

"Nah, I'm just worried if you're crying's all," Elliot laughs and pats her head. He then takes his hand off her head, glancing away uneasily. "So...I just want to know...I mean, you know about my brother, huh. That's...surprising me."

Alice tilts her head. "Edward told me about...his suicidal attempt—He's in a coma, right? When I know that you're Lancelot March's younger brother, I'm worried about you, actually," she smiles awkwardly, since Elliot looks taken aback. "I was just worried if anyone else in this school knows...and...bullies you or something, heh,"

Elliot's gaze warms up and he smiles warmly, patting her head again. "You're the only one who cares...it kind of makes me happy—thanks, Alice," he clears his throat and turns away, "I guess we should go back for the class."

"Yep!" Alice cheerfully skips behind Elliot. The ginger's smile slightly fades as he thinks of the cold Julius Monrey.

"Hey, Alice, are you really okay with Monrey treating you like that?" he can't help but ask.

"Oh, that—well, that's just how he is," Alice shrugs casually. "He's harsh on the tongue...But when I get to know him better, I think he's really nice! He's acting that way because of his parents—you know them, the prosecutors, right?"

"Of course I know," Elliot sighs. "It's just that, he's trying to make you get away even though you're so nice to him."

Alice stops her pace for a moment, before walking again and laughs. "Ha! I'm not nice at all. I'm annoying as hell," she snickers, as if proud of it. "I just really wish he'll think of me as a friend, one day. I'll be so happy!"

Elliot chuckles. "I think of you as a friend—aren't you happy?"

"Ehh, honestly, I feel really normal—it comes with the fact that we're _otaku_, y'know? It's natural that we're in a brotherhood from the bond of _otaku_."

"Hmm~ I guess that's true!"


	16. Chapter 16

16\. Cinnamon Coffee

* * *

"Look, Julius!" Alice holds up a thermos bottle. "Coffee!" she shows it off to Julius, who can't understand why she's being even nicer than yesterday after what he's saying.

'_Didn't I make her cry?'_ he asks in his mind, narrowing his eyes on the cheery girl who's starting to invade his desk again. However, this time, she's dropping her notebook instead of lunchbox. Julius' gaze is turned to the textbook.

"Now what." He deadpans.

"I want to watch you study," Alice says with a serious frown. "That's not gonna be annoying—I mean, I brought coffee and all!"

'_It's going to be annoying, and I can't believe you're trying to bribe me with coffee._' Julius grumbles in his mind, but then lets out a sigh. "Whatever. Pour me a cup." He orders, and Alice cheers before obediently pouring a cup of steaming coffee for him.

He begins to open a book about programming while taking his cup to sip the coffee, but then notices a unique aroma from it. Julius carefully sips it and raises his eyebrows.

"It's...strange..." he sniffs it again. "It smells...different."

"Wow, you notice it so easily," Alice nods, impressed. "I dropped cinnamon in the blend—it's Edward's signature blend! Cinnamon Coffee—and he uses red sugar to compliment it," she proudly explains, slightly blushing from excitement. "Do you think it's good?"

Julius hums and sets his cup before returning to his textbook. "It's wonderful, I'd give your brother that,"

'_I'm not praising her, so it's okay—'_

"Really? Reaaaallyyy?" Alice happily asks him again with gleaming eyes. "It's wonderful? You think it's wonderful, Julius? Awesome!"

'_Don't get so happy about other's accomplishments,'_ he mentally deadpans, but ignores her and begins to study. He has been underlining the important points in his notes, and Alice takes a peek to note them down.

"Julius, why do you have to read Programming book for the computer's exam?" Alice asks curiously.

"The teacher used this book last week, and everything he's taught to us appears to be taken straight out of this book," he explains patiently, and she nods in understanding.

It gets a little irritating when Alice begins to create acronyms for a list of thing to memorize, and she repeats it verbally. Julius can't help but listen to her mumbling it over and over again. Though in someway, it's also helpful for him to memorize. When he begins to start doing mathematical problems, she begins doing something to irritate him again.

"Julius—wait up—how did you get this two 'x' squared, again?" she'd ask for at least three times for him to show her how he worked on the problem before moving onto the next, and repeating the irritating cycle again.

Though he won't ever admit to her that it's really helpful for him, practicing it over and over. Teaching someone else makes him re-learn stuff and recognizes his mistakes easier.

"Ahh, I want to underline my notes too!" Alice whines. "Can you lend me your ruler, Julius?"

Julius twitches in the middle of drawing a triangle. "Can't you see I'm using it?" he hisses.

Alice sighs and then takes his pencil-case. "Oh, I'll just use your ID-card, then! Hey, Julius, your photo looks funny—you look younger here!"

Julius twitches and slightly blushes, beyond irritated at how she does as she pleases, but is too wrapped up with the triangle he's drawing. He lets Alice uses his student ID to underline her notes. The class' president announced that the next period is going to be empty because the teachers are having a meeting to discuss about the midterms, so the two keep studying past lunchbreak.

Elliot comes in for a visit and laughs to see them so serious—especially Alice, freaking out on how to do integrals.

"Why isn't this as easy as differential!?" she whines.

"Be quiet—you inserted the wrong value into 'y'," Julius sharply says, trying to think of this as a test for his patience. "In fact, you translated the graphic incorrectly—do this from the beginning, idiot."

"No way!" Alice whimpers, and drops on the desk, turning to glare at Elliot who's laughing. "Shut it, Elliot. How dare you to laugh at my most pathetic form!"

"You're always pathetic." Julius deadpans, and Alice flinches as his words stabbed her.

"Relax, Alice—you can do this just fine," Elliot pats her head and takes a seat beside Alice. Julius raises his eyebrows at Elliot's gesture. Alice looks quite happy to be patted on her head, since she huffs and looks determined again.

Julius tries to concentrate on his own problem again with a stern look.

'_Of course, I'm never good at cheering up anyone,_'

"Ugh...I'm so hungry...I feel dizzy looking at these numbers," Alice groans tiredly and glances at Julius hopefully. He sighs.

"Do whatever you want." He then pauses, and glares at her coldly, "In return for teaching you, buy me something to eat." He takes a sip of the Cinnamon Coffee.

Elliot twitches. '_Is she your servant or something?'_

"Yes, sir!" Alice jumps out of her seat and runs out of the class. "I'll be back real soon!"

'_Why are you acting like one!?'_ Elliot screams in his mind, and then turns to see Alice's textbook. He laughs. "Wow, she's so messy...Why is she randomly putting her counting steps in different places...?"

Julius rubs his temple. "She's so forgetful, so she just writes down stuff anywhere closest to her hand before she forgets," he slowly stands up. "I need to use the bathroom. Please tell Alice that if she's back,"

"Huh, you can say please to me, but you can't be polite to her," Elliot cynically laughs, and Julius pauses. However, he decides to ignore the ginger and leaves the classroom.

It doesn't take long for Alice to return, running like it's the end of the world. "I've got it, Julius—huh? Where is he?"

Elliot tells her exactly what Julius told him, and she sighs while taking a seat. Alice lazily stares at her textbook.

"This is the only thing I hate about school," she suddenly says, sighing. "They should have wiped exams off the face of the earth, you know."

Elliot hums and leans to the desk. "So aside from exams, you like school?"

She smiles emptily. "I like here—anywhere is better than at home," Alice shrugs and looks at Elliot. "But you know, the best place on earth should be where those Google Fiber Connections are installed."

Elliot claps his hands. "That's too much truth to handle, man," he sniffs. "I don't really care about school, but I'm not as lazy as you are, Alice. When I'm out of this place, I'm going to finally do what I want—I want to make a game, and having Google Fiber Connection will totally be a heaven."

Alice lights up in curiosity. "Game? Wow—oh yeah, your brother can make games with his skill, huh?"

The ginger smiles sadly. "Yeah...actually, we've already started with the storyboard and platforms...but," he shrugs. "You know Lancelot is in coma. When he lost the trial and is accused of hacking...the company and his best friend abandons him in the snap of a finger. He's...his life is ruined, that's what he thinks."

Alice gently puts her hand on Elliot's shoulder and gives him an encouraging squeeze. He smiles at her gently, appreciating it. Elliot then laughs when he remembers something.

"Ah, yes—the one who found your DeviantArt's page is Lancelot first, by the way," he grins. "He wanted to ask you to be our game's artists when the storyboard is finished."

Alice blushes a little, and grins. "Hey, I'd be honored, man! Though that's going to be lame, since I'll get all the spoilers..." she narrows her eyes in doubt, making Elliot laugh again. "Though I'd really love to do it—actually, I can't wait!"

Julius stays behind the door, crossing his arms. It's as he's been fearing about; Alice will find someone else more interesting and gives her more. Though of course, it's better this way. It will be easier if only she stops nagging him and just hang out with Elliot, be best friends and leave him alone. He's nothing like Elliot who has interesting visions...Julius is just the boring guy whose hobby is studying.

'_I...have to get rid of her,_' Julius begins to think. '_I have to make her stick to that March guy and leave me alone.'_


	17. Chapter 17

17\. Crescendo of Doom

* * *

For the first time, Julius sees with his own eyes that Alice Liddell isn't sleeping during lessons and is paying attention with...joy. He shakes his head, reminding himself that it's none of his business. Today he's going to start and avoid her for real.

"Alright, everyone, Coach Frank told me that you have to get ready for your P.E. class in ten minutes, so the class is over," the teacher announces, and everyone gladly exits the class to change their clothes.

Alice is about to skip towards Julius, but he quickly walks out of the class.

"Hey, wait, Julius~!" she skips to his side, and he decides to ignore her.

'_Ignore, ignore, ignore..._'

"This morning, I found a box of abandoned puppies! They're so cute...they're pugs! Aren't you interested in taking one?" Alice suggests cheerfully.

"Why don't you take them yourself—" Julius slaps his forehead.

'_Damn it, Julius.'_

"Ahh, that, I have four cats, a turtle, a couple of hamsters and three rabbits already—well, they're not all mine, but you know, I kind of have to take care of everything at home, so...I can't afford taking care of more puppies! Come on, Julius—taking care of puppies will make you less lonely," she tries to persuade him, but it only irritates him.

"I'm...not...lonely..." he mumbles angrily and quickly gets into the males' changing room.

Alice huffs and crosses her arms. Julius is really unreasonable, but if he does accept to take care of those pugs, she'd faint from shock for sure. When she decides to go to the females' changing room, she sees Elliot coming from the library.

"Hey, Elliot, what's up—Wait, why are you wearing your P.E. uniform? It's my class' turn," Alice asks in confuse, but Elliot grins and scratches the back of his head.

"Yeah, I kinda messed up my shirt," he waves his bag, "It's so dirty, so I change into this uniform earlier. You look really happy today, what's up?"

"See, I found a box of puppies—pugs! Aren't you interested to take them in? I already have too many pets to take care of!"

Elliot hums thoughtfully and sighs. "I live in an apartment, so I can't keep any animals...sorry, Al,"

"Oh, so you used to live in an apartment with your brother..." Alice nods, and then frowns. "Wait, but your brother is...then who's paying the rent?"

"N'aww," Elliot chuckles and waves his hand, "I can pay it myself. Sometimes I fix computers or printers—there are so many idiots out there who think hitting hardware is the way to solve everything," he shrugs. "Anyway, I gotta get back to my class—you should change to your uniform. Or...do you want me to change it for you~?" he winks.

Alice twitches and kicks his shin gently. "Just get your ass back to your class," she deadpans, and he laughs while leaving.

~.X.~

For some reason, the teachers have an emergency meeting that the P.E. lesson is cancelled. The girls complains about how they had gone through so much for changing uniform, but of course, Alice loves having a reason to wear training short without getting weird looks.

When Julius returns to the class after changing back to his casual clothes again, he notices Alice is doing something serious on her desk, and as if on reflex, he begins to observe.

"You're...making a poster?" he guesses.

"Oh, yeah!" Alice nods, looking up from her drawing. "I'll copy them and spread them on the walls, hopefully someone finds them cute enough to take in!"

She grins at him. He stares back at her.

"..."

Julius mentally slaps himself.

'_What the hell am I doing—I'm not ignoring her!'_

"Whatever." He coldly says and returns to his own seat, beginning to get absorbed in history books.

It seems that the emergency meeting is over, and the member of student council in their class is surrounded by everyone. Julius and Alice are just staring at the crowd, since they're loud enough to hear.

"What's up with the meeting? Vivaldi was called in, too, right?"

Alice turns to Julius. "Who's Vivaldi?" she asks.

Julius is kind of surprised that she doesn't know about Vivaldi. "That's the student council president."

She nods. "Hoh, no wonder I don't know...I can never remember stuff about student council!"

'_Her name is always on announcement boards and most likely in your transfer letter_.' Julius mentally deadpans at her odd pattern of ignorance. Like, she knows the popular jock star Ace Pendragon, but Vivaldi Crims, the student council president, is obviously more popular than him—yet Alice only knows about Ace.

Strangely enough, the discussion's volume is tuned down into whispers. Julius rolls his eyes—if he can't know, then there's no helping it. However, it's different for Alice, who's a bit more sensible than Julius.

'_It's like they don't want us to listen..._' she thinks, and tries to think of an idea on how to get the info. She has a bad feeling about this.

"By the way, Alice," Julius suddenly says when checking his pencil case. "Where did you put my ID card? I can't find it in my pencil case."

Alice scowls and twitches. "H-Huh!? I thought I left it on your desk after we're done with that fucking geography note," she snaps out harshly, and returns back to her thoughts.

Julius is quite taken aback that she gets really angry when her train of thoughts is disturbed. For some reason, she looks worried about something. He shakes his head again.

'_None of my business._'

"You should've put it back to my pencil case," Julius says again, only to get a sharp glare from her. "Wh-Whatever."

Suddenly she slams her fist to her desk and looks at him straight. "Julius—you lost your ID Card? For serious?" she stands up and begins to crawl on the floor. "It didn't fall off your desk?"

'_What's with her mood swings?'_ Julius frowns, watching her trying to find his ID Card on the floor.

"Oh, man...it's my fault," Alice groans. "You won't be able to use the school's computer without your ID Card, right?"

Julius clears his throat. "Pay it no mind. Besides, I've never used the school's computer." He shrugs.

Alice looks really worried for some reason, but she gets up from the floor and sits down again, being all silent. Julius ignores her again and returns to study.

~.X.~

The school is over, and when Alice is going to catch up with Julius, her classmates ask her to stay for a minute.

"Hey, Alice," a female classmate calls her warmly. "You're close with Julius, right? Is it because he's quiet...?"

Alice feels really awkward and wonders what's this chit-chat is going to get her. "Um...not really. It's just that, he's helped me out a lot..." she smiles shyly.

And she notices them exchanging glances, but quickly continues her shy acting.

"Help you out?" a male classmate asks curiously, "Really? Wow, he never does that. Helping in what?"

Alice knows what they want to hear, and she wonders what will happen if they hear what they want.

"In studying for midterm," she giggles shyly. "Though I've just been forcing myself on him, so he's so nice to teach me,"

"Huh..." some of them hums with cynical smirks. "Well, good for you, Alice. Monrey is really smart, and he's always get the highest score—he never helps anyone, though."

"Yeah, it's kind of...refreshing to see him warming up to someone," they laugh. "Maybe he has a _thing_ for you?" the joke around, and Alice laughs shyly.

'_This is really strange..._' Alice thinks deeply as she leaves the classroom. '_I've been invisible because of Julius' leave-me-alone aura_, _but now it's like I'm being watched because I'm close to him._'

"Oh, wait, I have to copy the posters!" Alice gasps in realization and runs to the library, only to find a teacher is standing there.

"Liddell, what do you want? The library is closed right now."

"Oh, uh, can you let me copy this—I promise I'll be quick, sir," Alice says politely, showing off her poster. The teacher raises his eyebrows and glances to the library door. He shakes his head.

"Sorry, you can't use the library now—Go to the teacher's room and use my printer, it's fine."

Alice pauses for a second, finding it strange that he's so persistent of not letting her in. She can hear from the library that there are people inside, but knows that she'll get yelled at if she presses further.

"Okay, thanks, sir!" Alice beams and skips away.

"Liddell," the teacher calls again, and she stops, turning to him. "I think you should focus on midterm tomorrow rather than those pugs, okay?"

Alice smiles again. "Will do, sir!"

After copying her posters and sticks them on the walls, Alice finally leaves the school with so many things to think of. The students look really deep on discussing something, but they seem to be cautious of her presence when she walks out of the yard.

'_It's like...especially me, I shouldn't hear it..._' she thinks. Usually, since she's invisible, she can listen to anything everyone is discussing without having to join the discussion.

'_This one rumor...what could it be...?'_

Alice shakes her head, and thinks of whether she should go straight home, but then laughs at the thought and walks the opposite direction. She's going to visit the puppies. They're inside a TV box by a bench in front of the park's lake. There's already someone there.

"Oh, you're...Ace Pendragon," Alice says, and the popular brunette turns to her.

"You're the transfer student...Alice Liddel, right?" he grins. "Are you going to take these pugs?"

Alice smiles and peeks into the box to cuddle with one of the excited pugs. "Nah, I'm too much burdened with my family. Are you going to take them?"

"Yeah," he pulls out the poster that Alice just stuck somewhere in school. "I took it off right after you stuck it, nice drawing, by the way," he chuckles.

Alice laughs. "Heh, thanks..." she sets down the pug and notices something. "Oh, did you put this blanket for them?" she pats the cloth beneath the pugs. It wasn't there this morning.

"Oh, that, no," Ace shakes his head, and turns to the path at their side. "Actually, Elliot March was just here, and I saw him putting that in for them—I think it's his clothes."

Alice raises her eyebrows and slightly pulls the clothes. She smiles warmly. "Hoh, I see...he's so nice for doing this—I guess he just wants to do something since he can't take them to his apartment," she then pulls the clothes and folds it. "So, you can take them—take care of them, okay? And definitely don't eat them!"

Ace laughs and bends down to take the box with the pugs. "Man, I'd eat rabbits, but puppies or kitties are most unlikely!"

"Yeah, I'd eat rabbits too, though they taste the same as chicken," Alice says thoughtfully. "Anyway, I'll keep this and return it to Elliot—just to shock him. See you sometimes, Pendragon,"

The brunette chuckles. "Nah, you can call me Ace is fine," he nods, "Yeah, guess I'll see ya around!"


	18. Chapter 18

18\. Not an Ice Cream Date

* * *

Julius is most definitely not dense. It's midterm week, and for some reason, the other students are often caught staring at him, trying to be secretive about it.

'_Though it's hard to be secretive if everyone is doing it,_' he thinks, trying not to let them get into his skin. After all, he's used to get cold stares and frowns—it's been his daily basis. That, he can easily resist, since everyone else got used to it and ignored him in the end. It's not like he's a public enemy or anything.

He is going to unlock his locker only to find it unlocked. The insides aren't messed up, but Julius memorized how he arranged his belongings, and notices that his arrangement has been altered. Nothing was taken, though, so he let it slide for now.

When he enters his class, for some reason, his classmates stare at him for a moment, before turning away and talk, trying to act normal and instead laugh loudly. Alice is wearing her headphone, drawing something on a paper. Julius rolls his eyes and takes his usual seat.

'_This is it, Julius.'_ He thinks to himself, pulling out his mini notebook and begins skimming the material for the umpteenth time. '_You've been slacking lately because of social interactions. You should be on your guard.'_

Alice flinches when she feels a strange, fiery aura comes from her side, and she laughs a little when seeing Julius looks really serious about the midterm that begins today.

'_Boy, is he on fire!'_

~.X.~

During midterms, Julius' concentration is invulnerable. Even if there's a meteor shooting and blasts the whole school, he'd still work on his exam as a ghost. When he's done working on it, he'd carefully re-read his answers and the questions, non-stop until the time for working it is over. Then, without talking even once, or seeing anything but the path in front of him, he'd go straight home after making sure that he's written his name and submits his worksheet.

If he pays attention to other things, he'd probably be beyond shock to see Alice is sleeping for half of the exam period before waking up and finally start doing her exam (he'd probably flips his table out of rage, because he hates how others aren't taking things seriously, especially an idiot). Alice can't work when she's not under pressure, so that explains why she sleeps until the last minutes.

Alice stretches as she walks out of the classroom.

"Maan...thought that's never gonna end!" she yawns, and then stops when she hears someone is laughing. Elliot pats her head from behind.

"Hey, Alice~" he grins, "I was wondering if you're the type to freak out after working on exam, so?"

Alice crosses her arms and hums. "You mean, like this? Oh no! I can't believe it, I had no idea what to do with number 7! Elliot, what did you put in as the answer? A or C? What!? It's B!? I'm such a god damn idiot! Argh, why am I so stupid!? Why didn't I study more!? ...Like that?"

The ginger laughs at her acting, and she laughs a little. "Yeah, hahah...something like that—but I guess you don't, eh? Or was that one too easy for you, or you're actually smart?"

"Hah!" she scoffs and waves her hand. "My motto is; what's done is done, and there's nothing to regret about! Man, you should've seen Julius...he's like a _Charizard_ trying to invoke _Super Saiyan_, like..._kaaameeehaaameeee..._and he's not getting to the _HAAA_! Until seven episodes later,"

The two laugh and walk out of the school building together. Elliot is average on lessons, and he does study as a routine—of course, not a diehard study routine like Julius', but at least he's bound to be better than Alice. However, since Alice has no futuristic desire and is uninterested with school, without any pang of guilt, she begins to slack around with Elliot, since she's got no Julius to latch onto.

"Hey, wanna get some ice cream?" Elliot suddenly offers, and when she looks up at him hopefully, he chuckles. "It's on me, of course,"

"Sure, let's go!" she cheers and drags him across the street mindlessly, and runs to the park where the ice cream cart is.

After getting the ice cream, they find a bench to sit, right in front of the fountain.

"So, I'm trying to continue my brother's storyboard," Elliot says, digging his bag with one hand and pulls out a journal. He bites the tip of his ice cream while flipping through the pages. "I decided to take my time and make two main characters with different point of views—one is a female, and the other is a male," he hands it over to Alice.

"Oh, whoa—_Le Mafioso_...let me read the base," Alice grins and licks her ice cream, her eyes scanning the handwriting quickly. It's about a mafia war; two groups fighting over political control in a fictional country named Crevermona.

Both sides are actually good; the first one is taking a monopoly over the country's oil, and prevents the usage of the nuclear energy development due to their knowledge of the country's enemy plan, to sabotage the nuclear.

The second mafia group sides with the people; they support the nuclear development because the oil monopoly is unfair and expensive, so using nuclear will take off the people's burden from paying expensive energy source.

However, both groups have a traitor, for each. The first anti-nuclear group has a member who's monopolizing the oil price to be high and secretly takes some commission to help out the enemy country's sabotaging project.

The pro-nuclear group has a member who's watching the nuclear development—a spy who sends off information to the enemy country. Their goal is to make both mafia groups fight and ultimately destroy themselves, making Crevermona vulnerable to the enemy country to destroy.

"Man!" Alice is impressed. "That's a great basic plot—kind of heavy, but makes sense and...I just can imagine the shock when the traitors are winning...So you're going to include action stuff in there and weapons, since there's mafia and all, that's it?"

Elliot chuckles, looking really pleased with her praise. "Well, I have prepared some different endings, so not only actions, the characters will interact, and their interactions will lead them to choices that determine Crevermona's fate. There are none-wars ending, war-bad-ending, war-good-ending, and True Ending."

Alice turns to the next page and nods. "Ah, so these are the main characters...wait, you haven't decided their groups—you just listed their skills and personalities!"

"Well," the ginger crosses his arms. "I just want to know what you'll come up with for these specifications. I think I'll decide who's going to which group after seeing your design—how about that?"

The dark blonde looks surprised, blushing a little, her ice cream melts. "Y-You want me to...make the design from now on?" she quickly licks the melts on her fingers.

Elliot grins and bends down to lick his ice cream. "You can take your time, too. Just focus on the exam," he snatches away his journal. "If you can pass the midterm, then I'll lend you this so you can start on them."

Alice's eyes were on fire. "Don't worry, dude—I have talents to pass on the barely average scores! I'm definitely going to make the designs!"

He laughs. "Alice, even though I'm not interested in school, I still have to graduate and do my best—you should do your best in everything, you know? Don't be doing things half-assed-ly."

She looks taken aback, and blushes in shame. "S-Shut up, I know that..." she goes silent and eats her ice cream. For some reason, Elliot's words pierced right through her—just because she doesn't know what she want, doesn't mean she should do things half-assed-ly. That's the only source of regret for anyone.

'_But if I don't have anything I want...I don't see the point of working hard,_' she stubbornly thinks.

Suddenly, Ace Pendragon comes out of the bushes, and the two almost jump off the bench.

"Oh, hey guys! Did I startle you?"

"You god damn right—why are you coming out of the bushes, Ace!?" Alice snaps at him, and then gasps when she looks at the ground. "Shit—my free ice cream!"

"That's just beyond creepy," Elliot twitches when Ace laughs, and then notices that Alice is still dwelling on her ice cream cone. "No—Alice, don't eat that off the ground! It's dirty!" he snaps her hand.

"B-But...I've wasted the wheat that the farmers worked hard on growing..." Alice sulks as she watches Elliot throwing her wasted cone to the trashcan.

Ace blinks in realization. "Oh, man, sorry for interrupting your date, guys..." he laughs. "But is this really the time to go on dates—like, we're in the middle of midterm here!"

Elliot blushes, eyes wide. "D-D-Date?"

"Hah?" Alice twitches. "We ain't goin' on any date, man—but you're one to talk, going around, startling people and comes out of a freaking bush _in the middle of midterm here,_" she returns his words, making the popular jock laughs.

"Ahah—point taken, Alice." Ace grins, and then looks around. "Huh, it's weird, though...I was sure that the bus stop is around here somewhere...my chauffeur is waiting there, and my driver can't give me the right directions to go there..." he shrugs and sighs. "I'll fire him for tricking me like this."

Alice and Elliot frowns at him, and exchange stares that agree on how stupid this brunette dude is.

"The bus stop is right there, you duck," Alice rolls her eyes, pointing to the south path of the park. "I get lost too, but this is over-doing it, man. You shouldn't fire your driver—I bet you just didn't follow his directions,"

Ace laughs again. "Whoa, how did you figure it out? Haha! Okay, thanks for your help, I'll go right there!" he waves and turns to walk to the north.

"You're going to the opposite direction, dumbass," Elliot deadpans, pulling his collar. He stares at Alice. "Hey, let's drag him to the damn bus stop and go home, Alice,"

Alice nods in agreement. "Sure—we gotta make sure he doesn't come out of the bushes and killing old grandpa from heart-attack,"

"Thanks, guys!" Ace grins as Elliot drags him by his collar, and Alice walks beside them.


	19. Chapter 19

19\. Convicted

* * *

Finally, midterm ends three days later. The teachers have been grading their work since day one, so they'll probably find out the scores tomorrow. Julius just drops his head on the desk after submitting his Calculus worksheet. Some of his classmates cheer and run out of the class, and girls begin to group up and chat about how glad they are that it's all over.

Alice looks chipper than usual, this time she's reading a manga with the title _Kimi ni Todoke_—her eyes widen sometimes, sometimes she grins, and sometimes she lets out a small; "Awww...!"

'_Weirdo.'_ Julius thinks.

Elliot comes into their class cheerfully.

"Yo guys! Glad it's finally over, eh? Oh, Alice—you're reading that chick's manga?" the ginger walks between their desk and leans to hers. "What is a guy like you doing, reading _shoujo manga_? Getting a fever?

"I'm a girl, god damn it," Alice deadpans. "Though this is a bad idea—my drawing's easily affected by the type of manga I'm reading...maybe your characters design will be shojo-ic—OH YEAH, where's your journal?" she asks with wide eyes, hands down begging him.

Elliot scoffs. "No, no, wait until tomorrow and see if you pass,"

Alice whimpers, and turns to Julius. "Julius, can you believe this? I'm going to be his game artist!"

Julius looks disinterested and closes his eyes. "Good for you."

"Does he runs out of battery or something?" Elliot asks, frowning at the less pristine-than-usual hermit. "He might've used all of his willpower from concentrating so hard on exams..."

"I'm on grave caffeine break—shut up and leave me alone," Julius groans and turns on his desk away from facing them.

Alice chuckles. "Hey, do you want some more coffee, then, Julius? I can get some,"

"No...don't..." he pauses, and then turns again to her. "Get me some water instead."

Alice jumps off her seat and runs out in a flash. Elliot twitches at how obedient she is and scowls at Julius.

"Seriously—is she your gopher or what?" he asks, walking towards Julius and leans on his chair. "You're not blackmailing her or anything, right?"

Julius scoffs. "I don't have time for that..." he turns away again. "I don't know what she wants from me, but it's convenient sometimes."

'_You're totally taking advantage of her!'_ Elliot mentally yells.

~.X.~

Alice rushes through the crowded corridor and reaches the vending machine. Coincidentally, Ace and his gang pass by, and he notices her.

"Hey, Alice!" he greets her, and his friends turn to him.

"Who is this, Ace? You know her?"

Alice flinches and turns to him nervously. She can talk to Ace alone, but not with the 'whole school' around. Ace is really popular, so people follow him around, trying to get on his good side. The girls from the cheerleader team eye her curiously.

"I've never seen you around—oh, are you the transfer student, Alice Liddell?" one of them asks.

"Y-Yeah," Alice nods meekly.

'_God—stop staring at me, world!'_ she screams in her head.

Ace looks surprised to see her personality—really different from when he saw her out of the school.

"Oh, Alice Liddell? You ran two miles in five minutes—Coach Frank told me," one of the guys looks surprised. "Hey, why don't you hang out with us? Ah—we're gonna play some baseball, and we're definitely interested to see those legs running,"

Alice gulps and slightly blushes. "I...uh...heheh, I'm sorry, I can't..." she looks down shyly, squeezing the bottle of water in her hands. "I have to give this to Julius, so...maybe I'll take up on your offer later?"

Ace perks up to hear that, but his friends frown at her. "Huh? Oh, yeah, you're close with that bland-faced-guy, haha—just kidding, but I guess shy people stick to shy ones too,"

'_Julius? Shy? WHAT?'_ Alice's mind is blown.

"Oh yeah, Alice, I want to talk to you," Ace suddenly says, tugging her shoulder. "You know, I just—hey, I think we should talk this in private, hahah," he grins to his friends—the guys whistle, and the girls let out a suggestive "Oooh~"

Alice blushes harder—getting into rumors with the most popular guy in school is a big "NO!", so she laughs awkwardly.

"Ahah—I can't...Um, Julius is dying from dehydration, so—yeah, see ya later!" she avoids them and skips away frantically.

Ace's clique laughs at him. "Ouch, first girl to hit on, first one to turn you down, man!" the guys laugh.

"Aww, Ace, never knew you're into shy ones! Why didn't you say so...?" the girls giggle.

Ace laughs, but he's definitely confused about her odd personality at school.

'_She's not shy at all.'_ He mentally laughs.

~.X.~

Alice enters the class, and finds that Elliot is gone, and Julius is already studying again. She puts the water bottle on his desk.

"Huh, where's Elliot? We're not done talking, yet," Alice sighs and takes a seat.

Julius shrugs and drinks the water, sighing in relief. "Thanks," he says and returns to study.

"Y-You're welcome," Alice stutters, taken aback by his simple thank.

'_I mean, he's never thanked me before!'_ she can't help but smile. Suddenly, the bell rings, signing that the break is over. Since it's the last day of midterm exam, the last period is going to be short and the teachers will probably just announce half of their results.

However, when the students are already in, their homeroom teacher comes in with the headmaster.

"Everyone, I'm going to announce your exams result for the first day, but..." he clears his throat and his eyes scan for someone in his class. "Julius Monrey," everyone turns to him, and the called one flinches. "The headmaster wants to talk to you."

Everyone begins to exchange stares, glances, whispers or even staring at Julius oddly. Alice scowls and glances to Julius in worry. He looks confused, but slowly got up from his desk and obediently follows the headmaster to exit the class.

"He really did it," one of the students says loudly, and the teacher stiffens behind the table. "Sir, that guy—he did it, didn't he?"

The teacher clears his throat and takes a seat. "Be quiet, Gerard. I don't know what you're talking about."

"Hah," a girl scoffs. "Acting all cool and mighty, such a snob—but actually just a prick who's cheating!"

Alice watches as the rumors finally begin to unfold—the thing that has been bugging her since last week.

The teacher looks like he understand that students can easily get rumors to spread around the school quickly, and sighs.

"Let's just move on to your results," he tries to get them away from the topic.

"Sure, sir! Let's announce Monrey's first—bet my lunch, straight A+'s, huh?"

Alice shivers when some students turn to her. One of the guys then asks the teacher; "Sir, what about Alice Liddell's result?"

'_So that's why...'_ she thinks in realization. '_They think I'm teaming up with Julius, with something that's connected to the midterm?'_

"Her scores are barely above average, so don't make up ridiculous things, Lucas," the teacher snaps, and then stands up to look straight at Alice. "Alice Liddell, is there something you want to share—do you know anything about Julius Monrey?"

Alice is shocked, since everyone finally turns to her. "Know what?" she asks, her confused acting is flawless.

"I guess he's not sharing the _exams' answers_ with you, then, Liddell," some students say. "Good thing he's such a selfish prick."

"So you really have no idea, Alice Liddell," the teacher sighs, looks relieved. "I'm sorry if he's your close friend, but Julius Monrey has been found out to hack the school's data and printed out the answers."

Alice's heart begins to pound as some students are sneering or laughing mockingly.

"He's gonna get dropped out, right, sir?"

"That stuck-up prick should just get away already!"


	20. Chapter 20

20\. Grey Schoolday

* * *

The situation becomes worse when the P.E. teacher comes in to check Julius' bag—and he finds the printed exams' answers in there. Alice freezes when the whole class begins to 'boo' Julius who's not with them for the time being.

'_He didn't do it,_' Alice wants to say, but she knows that no one will agree to that. If only they can see how hard he studies everyday—if only they know that he's an honest and kind guy, who's just rough and awkward around the edges.

Alice notices that he's brought his cellphone when he followed the headmaster. She secretly begins to type a message under her desk.

In the teacher's meeting room, for the first time in his life, Julius feels what it means to be a public enemy. The teachers that used to never question his credibility are staring him coldly—a different cold-stare than the ones he usually got...

"We can't get into contact with your parents, Monrey," the headmaster informs. "You're going to stay here until Saturday—until your parents return from their business...They're going to be really disappointed...as I am with you."

"Did you do this for the exams before, Monrey?" a teacher sharply asks.

Julius scowls to the table and shakes his head. "I didn't do it—I never cheat, I study on my own, I swear."

"Then what is the meaning of this!?" Coach Frank yells at him, waving the printed answers. "Why did I find this in your damn bag, Monrey!?"

He clenches his fists, grinding his teeth. "I didn't hack the school's data—I do not have that kind of skill." He insists.

"Well, too bad—your ID number is the one that accessed the computer that hacked our data, son," the computer teacher mocks him, showing the log that the school's data has been accessed by his ID. "Why are you so desperate to get straight A+'s, Julius? I know how your parents are really demanding, but...you didn't have to do this, son,"

"Your classmates told me that you've been reading a programming book last week," his homeroom teacher says—he just returned after announcing the exam results in his class.

"I just read it for exam materials," Julius explains immediately. "The teacher used that book too two weeks ago."

"Yeah, maybe—and coincidentally, the later chapters of that book that I didn't explain contains several tricks of hacking into simple security," the computer teacher says coldly. "Talk about luck, huh, Monrey?"

Julius can't say anything else. He doesn't understand how he gets blamed for something he never did. He thinks he'll be just fine if he does things fair and true, even without anyone else on his side. Julius just can't imagine how the whole school will act to him after this.

"Monrey," the headmaster calls him. "You're going to be dropped out—you will sign the letter on next Saturday and deliver it to your parents. Until then, take care of things that you need to. This meeting is adjourned."

Julius shivers as the teachers exit the meeting room, cold stares on him and disappointed murmurs fill his ears. He doesn't want to get out of the meeting room unless he can just teleport without going through the corridors.

When he steps out of the meeting room, people cheer on him.

"Whoa, look at it, everyone! King of Cheating Bastards finally reveals himself!" a guy that Julius remembers from the tenth grade leads the cheer. He quickly walks away from them, and they laugh.

"Oi, hold it, Monrey—what's the hurry? It's not like there's any class here you're going to get late into!"

"You're gonna leave anyway—good riddance, right? Take your time leaving, you prick."

Julius keeps staring down the floor as he walks away—no matter how much he tries to ignore, he just can't block them out. It's because they're not secretly despising him, which was easy to ignore, because he can blend into the background later. Because he can get high scores and defend himself...no one dares to go against him or insult him. But now, they don't think of him as smart—they think of him as a cheating prick...

They find one weakness and use it up to attack him. It's not even something he really did.

They just believe what they like to believe.

"There you are, cheating bastard~!"

"How do you _luh_ dem A+'s, asshole?"

Even those who are used to avoid and be afraid of him openly insults him.

Being avoided and being stared by the whole world like a disgusting beast are two entirely different things.

For the first time, he finally feels the true loneliness. No one has ever on his side—that's cool. But now no one is on his side, and everyone is against him for a bad thing that he didn't do.

'_I have to go home_.' He thinks, trying to fill his head with something. He goes to his locker to get his keys, only to find nasty things plastered on it.

CHEATING JERK

SNOB

STUCK UP DEMON

GO THE FUCK AWAY TO HELL

SMART-CHEATING-ASSHOLE

IDIOT

Not even bothering to take them down, he just unlocks his locker—good thing they're not trying to put in weird stuff. He takes his keys and rushes out of the school, followed by 'boos' and mocking laughter.

When he reaches the gate, Julius hides his face behind his palms and groans.

"Ugh...why me...?" he complains out loud.

It doesn't matter if the school is against him...but he's going to be dropped out. What will his parents say? Right after they decided to let him relax...and this happens.

'_They're going to disown me._' He thinks, knowing how his parents are really serious about his school. However, they never really know him, so they'll probably trust his school instead of their own son.

"Julius!" he flinches, knowing those voices. He doesn't dare to look, so he runs.

Alice is an honest girl, despite how stupid she is...and he's been calling her 'idiot' all this time. Now he's a cheating bastard...she'll probably yell at him about being a hypocrite with her trademark 'F-worded' personality switch. And then there's Elliot beside her...he'll probably mock him for the things he said to Alice.

'_God, I just want to die.'_ He thinks darkly.


	21. Chapter 21

21\. Powerless

* * *

Alice frowns sadly when Julius runs as she calls him out. She doesn't know what to say to him...but it's the first time she sees him so vulnerable. He looks...lonely and wounded. Julius used to be able to stand up on his own, he never cares that he's alone. And just now...

"Alice..." Elliot walks to her slowly and puts a hand on her shoulder. "Did he really—it can't be, right? I mean, you know him, right?"

Alice looks down with a scowl, not saying anything—thinking deeply. Elliot is worried about that rare expression and squeezes her shoulder.

"Hey, are you okay...? Do you need to sit down?" he offers gently.

Alice takes a deep breath and squeezes Elliot's hand on her shoulder. "I'm okay. I need to...be alone." She says and begins to run off from school. Despite that she's saying about being alone, Elliot frowns when noticing that she runs to where Julius is leaving.

~.X.~

Alice runs and finally arrives to Julius' house, right when he's trying to unlock his door.

"Hey! Why did you run off like that?" she asks, and he glares at her.

"Leave me the hell alone!" he hisses and slams his door open, stomping in without bothering to close his door. Alice sighs and calmly follows him, closing the door and takes the keys. Julius stomps upstairs and she can hear him slamming the door of his room closed.

The house is filled with the ticking of the antique clock. Julius curls on his bed, feeling betrayed beyond belief.

'_Why...'_ he thinks loudly. '_Why is being honest not enough?'_

It's not fair. He's given up on friendship and decides to stand up on his own. He works honestly—he works hard. Why can't anyone see that? Or maybe...why can't anyone believe him?

He hears the door of his room creaks open weakly. He mentally curses for forgetting to close his house and locks it, but then he can feel something warm is nudging his shoulder, and smells familiar. Julius doesn't budge, but feels that warm thing is taken away, and his bed shifts from a new pressure.

"I told you to leave me alone."

"No, I need to keep an eye on you or you'll get ideas on suicide," Alice deadpans, and sips her coffee.

Julius sighs and slowly spreads out his right hand. She doesn't say anything but hands him his coffee mug. He notices that it's the Cinnamon Coffee. He keeps looking down at the black liquid, not wanting to meet her eyes.

"Why are you here..." he mumbles coldly and sips his coffee.

The warmth somewhat begins to calm him.

"I've said it." Alice says again curtly.

There is another calming silence that's only filled with their sips of coffee and the clock's ticking. It's Alice's first time in his room, yet she doesn't have any interest on looking around—her mind is off somewhere else. Julius gloomily stares at his empty mug and drops it on his bed, groaning.

"Why...why are you still nice to me!?" his muffled yell comes out as he hugs his knees.

"I'm not nice!" Alice yells and he flinches. "You're just my friend!"

Julius is taken aback and feels a pang in his heart. He doesn't know what else to say. Of course...she considers him as a friend...but...maybe she's just here merely to stop him from killing himself out of pity. He's a loser.

"I don't need your pity. You're just saying sweet things and behind me you're probably complaining about why you're close with a cheating bastard like me..." he mumbles. "The homeroom teacher suspected you because you're close with me...everyone else probably thinks you're teaming up with me."

"I believe in you, damn it—you're smart but dense," Alice sighs and takes his mug, setting it on the nightstand with hers. "I've seen you study your ass off, even your smartness rubs on me, Julius—I passed, but barely above average. They didn't suspect me."

He can't help but feel curious, and looks up from his knees. Julius scowls. "It's so unfair how they easily believe that..."

Alice surprises him when she chuckles and takes his hand. "Julius, you know I admire how you can stand up on your own, right?" he frowns at her. "But you don't understand why I'm acting shy to others."

A gentle look is on her face, and her words make him realize the reason.

"Being honest is not enough. You need someone else to trust you, Julius." She squeezes his hand, and lets go. "Once people judge you, they think they know everything. They'll believe what they want to, because they think they know you." Alice huffs and pulls her feet onto his bed and turns to face him.

"The reason why I act shy...is because I want them to judge me as shy. No one will judge me harshly, expect things from me, mostly just ignore me—they think, a shy new student like me won't team up with you, that's why they easily believe me."

Julius is really taken aback by how cleverly manipulative she is. For him, who feels like he's being dragged by the tide of society, Alice is like a deity that can manipulate society to act accordingly to her will. Even though it's subtle, but her acting is flawless—sometimes her skill scares him. What if she's also been lying and acting to him?

"But it's so tiring," Alice laughs nervously. "I hate being in the spotlight, or getting expectations, so if they think of me like; oh, she's shy...just let her off—everything is easier for me! But, I like you, Julius,' she grins. "You never judge me. Too bad, you're just socially retarded."

For a second there, he feels irritated that he forgets about his current situation.

"Well, thanks a lot," he huffs and returns to his knees. "It's too late to change. It's over now."

Alice scoffs. "Huh, I guess this is one of the reason why I stick to you a lot; you're even more pessimistic than I am, and that makes me adapt to you—be more optimistic."

"One more thing to take advantage from me, good for you." He deadpans.

The girl chuckles. "It's not over yet, Julius." She says and pats his shoulder. He looks at her to see her determined eyes. "You didn't do it. There's no reason for you to hung your head in shame."

He raises his eyebrows, and she nods.

"Can't you just ignore those bastards like you usually do? So what if they think you're a stuck up study hermit?"

Julius narrows his eyes. "That's how you think of me?"

"Nah, not the stuck up."

"So I'm still a hermit."

"Anyways! Who cares if they think you cheated? You didn't do it! You know the truth, Julius. Who cares? Who needs them? Isn't that how you go through your life everyday?" Alice asks energetically, and he grits his teeth.

"But...they used to ignore me for being that way...and now..."

"It's still the same," Alice cuts him off. "You don't do anything wrong—there's no need to act like the culprit. There's no need to look down in guilt. Just ignore them!"

Julius grits his teeth impatiently. "Don't you get it? I'm going to be dropped out by Saturday! My parents will disown me, damn it, Alice!"

Alice falls silent, frowning at him in shock. Julius realizes that she doesn't know about the details of his drop-out. He cradles his head with his hand, and use his other hand to take hers. He drags her up from his bed.

"Please...just leave." He mutters and pushes her out of his room, but she persistently holds his door. He sighs and closes his eyes. "Don't worry...I'm not thinking of killing myself."

She doesn't seem convinced. Julius looks into her eyes—he can't lie to those eyes.

"I promise. I'll come to school tomorrow. For now, please...leave me alone."

Alice didn't budge, staring at him straight in the eyes, before giving a small, encouraging smile.

"I'm with you, Julius. I believe in you. So remember that you're not alone." She said, before giving a small wave and left, closing the door carefully.

Julius bites his lower lip, overwhelmed by the emotion, but hearing Alice's words makes him feels that he's not so powerless. Maybe it's too late to realize that you're not so powerless when you're not alone. He can't imagine what will happen if Alice Liddell never came into his life.


	22. Chapter 22

22\. Waiting for the End

* * *

He remembers that time when he realized that he's always been alone and at the pity of his ex-classmates from fifth grade. It felt heavy to walk to school—and that happens to Julius again the next day. He feels like dragging his heels.

The only thing that makes him brave enough to come this far is what Alice had said yesterday.

'_You didn't do it! You know the truth, Julius.'_

He's not at fault. He knows that. He should go through his last days in school with that thought—he should be fine.

"Oh, look who's actually showing his face to school again!" is the first 'greeting' he receives when he reaches the front corridor. "Look, there's his usual stuck-up Ice-King face."

"Shut it or I'm going to use this." Julius just notices that Alice has been walking beside him—she's pointing a stun-gun at the guy who just mocked him, and he shuts up right away.

The girls glare at her. "Alice Liddell—hey, did he pay you to stick up with him? Seriously? Sure, he's good-looking, but come on!"

Alice frowns sadly and runs away. Julius twitches.

'_Oh, thanks a lot.'_ He thinks at how lame she is.

"Hah, so that's just how strong she is," the girls mock again. "Monrey, that's so lame though—hiding behind a girl like that."

"The cheating bastard is hiding behind a girl—whoa, how lame can you get?"

Julius walks past them, but they follow and keep taunting him.

"Sir! There they are—they are saying nasty things to me!"

Everyone freeze when Alice returns with Coach Frank, and she begins to weep. "Th-They say that I'm a cheap bitch who's desperate so I hang out with Julius...and then—that guy grope me! So I just threatened him with a stun-gun, but the girls gang up on me!" she sobs.

"Oh, no, no, children!" Coach Frank sighs and pats Alice's head, glaring at the students who were taunting Julius. "You can't just bully a girl because she hangs out with a drop-out, kids."

'_Oh, man, yeah, hang out with a drop-out. I'm so honored to get that title.'_ Julius narrows his eyes.

"She's not involved with his case. Besides, Julius has already get his verdict—don't make things harder for him, alright? If I see you bullying them again, detention room is waiting." Coach Frank warns and pats Alice's head, and the dark blonde sticks out her tongue at the students when he's not looking.

When the teacher leaves, Alice scoffs and drags Julius away.

"Two-faced bitch!" a girl yells.

Julius shivers when Alice turns to that girl and is already right in front of her, holding a pocket knife.

"Repeat it, and I'll use this." Alice says coldly, pointing the knife to the girl.

Everyone in the corridor shut up right away and begin to avoid them. Alice isn't satisfied, so she begins to yell in the corridor.

"If any of you are thinking of insulting Julius again, watch it when you're going home. You're going down." Alice says loudly, and everyone shivers before quickly completely avoiding them.

The girl returns to a frozen Julius and let out a long sigh.

"God, that's worse than what I did with the taxi driver—I didn't think that's gonna work!" she gulps, fanning herself. Julius puts his hands on her shoulders, staring at her in fear.

"A second there I seriously thought you're involved with a gang or something." He mutters darkly, and Alice laughs nervously, and she enters the class—everyone look away from them in fear—from Alice, actually.

Julius stares at her, who snickers proudly at her remarkable acting.

"Are you okay, doing this...?" he asks slowly. "I can defend myself. You said you didn't want to get into the spotlight."

He flinches when she hangs her head down gloomily.

"Ugh...I know..." she facepalms. "I'm trying to be strong like you, Julius. Don't worry about it. I have to help you as much as I can!" she nods in determination. "I just hate anyone who says things like they know everything—I feel like crushing their neck." Alice says this loudly, and everyone freeze in their spots.

She grins to him and holds a thumb up.

Julius' gaze turns gentle at her, and...he can't help but smile too. Despite what's going to happen, he feels relieved to have someone on his side—someone who trusts him and defends him. He doesn't understand why would she go through such lengths for him.

'_I guess...that's how friendship is._' He thinks to himself. '_It's not something to understand.'_

Alice smiles gently, relieved to see him not depressed anymore. However, Alice knows that her mere acting won't solve things. It won't help Julius just to have peaceful days before being dropped-out—she has to prevent him from being dropped-out!

'_But how?'_ she thinks deeply. '_I need to solve this...but I think I'm missing something...'_

~.X.~

Four more days before Julius is dropped out, and he went through the first day smoothly because Alice has sacrificed her 'shy' stereotype into 'Gangster-Lady' title. He feels better to have someone on his side, but not about how he's so helpless right now.

'_She's saved me twice now. From that taxi-driver and now the students...I can't get past her acting skill.._.' he thinks, a bit depressed.

His parents are dealing with a case in North Korea, and that shut-in country isn't easy to go through for contacts. The only thing he can do is, at least, try and not get disowned. He feels confident about this because he has someone on his side...

Julius thinks he'll just beg his parents to move him to other school and prove that he can be number one again—or maybe home-school to convince them that he never cheats. Though of course, that will be hard, since he won't have Alice around anymore. But he has to make any chance he's got counts.

"Good, you're back studying!" Alice says the next day when she arrives and sees him studying. "I brought coffee again—not Cinnamon Coffee, though," she puts a can of cold coffee on his desk.

He clears his throat, kind of flustered by her thoughtfulness. "Th-Thanks," he mumbles.

It's really weird how she looks really happy when he thanked her.

'_I'm going to miss this..._' he thinks to himself. '_This is why I didn't want to get attached...but...I guess it's going to be a nice thing to remember.'_

"Julius," Alice pulls her seat towards his desk. She looks deep in thought. "Last week, before the midterm...did you visit the library at all?"

Julius feels that this is connected to his case, because somehow, someone used his ID to hack the school's data through the computer in the library. But he never went there last week, because he didn't need anything—Julius may be a study bug, but he doesn't like library, or anywhere that needs to walk and meet people.

"No," he shakes his head.

"Okay." She says and opens her own can of coffee. "Just concentrate on your study—I like seeing you study," she says earnestly, and Julius chokes on his coffee.

~.X.~

It's hard to get info when everyone is avoiding you. Alice sighs—ever since she snapped up into a sadistic girl, no one dares to look at her, and just plainly runs off when she's near. How is she going to get the case done when she can't hear the details of the case? So far, she can only sums the case from her own conjectures.

She then remembers something brilliant.

"You're Vivaldi Iracebeth Crims, the student council president, right?" Alice asks in the cafeteria, to the curly purplette who's waiting for her pasta—the student council members around her stare at Alice in horror—the rest of the students there freeze in fear.

"Holy shit...Sadistic President meets up with Gangster Lady..."

"What the hell does that Liddell want now?"

Vivaldi turns to her, disinterested. No, scratch that—she's taken aback when seeing Alice's eyes, and twitches. Alice is frowning with a serious look.

'_Cute!'_ Vivaldi decides, but keeps her dignity. "Is something the matter?"

Alice shivers and gulps. She has the feeling that...her acting won't affect Vivaldi—like how it does with Julius. They will believe her acting, but they won't melt or be frightened from her acting. That's how it goes with people who have strong personalities.

She glances around, irritated by everyone who's staring at them expectantly.

"What the hell are you people staring at!? Get bent!"

And off they did, leaving the cafeteria empty and Vivaldi bursting into laughter.

"Ahahaha!" she doubles over. "Impressive! Those fools can eat your acting!"

Alice lets out a tired sigh. "Ugh...I knew it...you can see right through me." She wipes her sweat from her forehead, and politely takes a seat across Vivaldi.

"What is it that you need from _us_?" Vivaldi asks with a graceful smile.

Alice twitches at the noble aura that spreads out from the purplette.

'_Man, is she a Queen or what?'_

"Can you tell me the details of the hacking case that's hitting Julius right now?" Alice asks, a bit pleading.

Vivaldi raises her eyebrows. "Now that's what we call straight-forward. My foolish council members are such blabber mouths...yet, we regret to inform you that we can not share such confidential details with you."

Alice puffs her cheeks. "Aww, come on...Your members are blabbering it—if only they didn't, Julius won't have a hard time, and I won't have to act like this 'Gangster Lady'..." she complains, and Vivaldi chuckles.

"You have the point—and you've come to us because no one else has the will to be around you, is that it, Gangster Lady?" she smirks teasingly, and Alice looks down in shame. Vivaldi giggles and leans her back to the seat. "Well then, if that's the case...how about you owe us a favor?"

Alice perks up. "Sure! Anything!"

The purplette frowns with a wry smile. "We have to admit; it's curious how that cold Julius Monrey can have such a loyal friend," she tilts her head. "We're quite envious...Well then, we suppose we'll share the details. Even if this won't help, promise us that you'll still do anything for us,"

Alice nods and offers a handshake. The student council presidents giggles and grabs her hand firmly, but pauses.

"In one more condition," Vivaldi says carefully. "This conversation never happens."

"Deal."

"Sealed."

~.X.~

Edward is in his room—his room is always messed up with piles of papers everywhere. Someone knocks on his door, and he sets away and turns off his cigarette.

"What is it?" he boredly asks.

"Ed, can you look at this?" Alice comes into his room—she's used to the papers, so she easily jumps over them. The girl sets down some papers on her brother's table.

Edward skims through the writings. "Wow, this happens to that pretty boy you dragged home?"

"Yeah," Alice sighs and crosses her arms. "I think I'm missing something...I can't notice it."

The dark-blonde man snaps his fingers. "Not you—that pretty boy does. He's missing something—his Student ID Card, right? The root of this case?"

Alice nods. "I know...it's just that...I don't know where to find it—I mean, how to get it back..."

"No, even though you can get it back, you can't use it to prove anything, Alice," Edward sighs. "If this happens in a trial, I'd be on my knees and pray to whoever is up there for a miracle."

Alice frowns. "Ed...you can't do that—truth will always find a way to be known, right?"

Her older brother smiles gently at her. "You're playing too much _Ace Attorney_, Alice. But...maybe you're just living up to your _name_. Your honesty is the only optimism you have," Edward chuckles and crosses his arms. "We already know the culprit, we have several evidence, but we need something to validate the evidence, and one more decisive evidence—if this is a murder case, then that last evidence is the _murder weapon_, Alice."

Alice nods, knowing that her brother is going to give her an advice.

"In trials, the most important thing is to know everything—every facts. You know the defendant's innocence, you know the real culprit, you know all evidence—despite one is missing, and you just need _one more thing_ in a trial, Alice. What do you think would that be?"

Seeing the growing smirk, and Edward's gleaming teal eyes that are similar to hers, Alice then realizes one more thing that she's missing.

"But...how? Who? There's so many at school!" she groans.

Edward chuckles. "Now don't be pessimistic, Alice. When the world is too wide, then start with..._surrounding_."

Alice hums, memorizing his words. "One more thing, though," she leans her chin on his table. "Even though I did clear this up...how can I convince the whole school?"

Edward frowns at her in confuse. "But, you said that he's so smart—why don't you make an exhibition of his brain?"

"Damn it, Ed! You're such a genius!"


	23. Chapter 23

23\. It's Never Too Late

* * *

Another day passed again. Lately, Alice has been going out of the class frequently—but today, she's visiting his house again. Julius has the feeling that she's trying to make sure he's studying...which is...beyond strange.

"Aren't you...going to watch anime or something?" Julius says, feeling awkward to have her watching him studying—it's been two days she's acting that way.

"I'll watch them next week when we're on school break," Alice says and glares at him coldly, "What are you doing, Julius? Get back to study!"

He twitches, irritated. "Yeah, but can't you do something else? I don't really like being stared at."

"Okay...I'll cook dinner!" Alice suggests to herself, and then frowns at him. "But you better not slack off from studying!" she threatens, and reluctantly leaves to the kitchen, walking backwards while eyeing him.

'_I'm not a slacker like you are!'_ Julius protests angrily in his mind, but grunts and returns to his study—he glares at his book so hard that the book might burns.

Alice feels that she's been pushing him too far about studying, since Julius even eats his dinner while working on an essay. Though there's no point to argue with him at this point, so she lets it slide. He suddenly stares at her.

"Don't look at me—do something else while eating." He sternly says, and returns to eating and studying at the same time.

"Hmph, grump." Alice scoffs and pulls out her laptop.

"I heard that." He twitches.

Soon, the house is filled with the ticking of the antique clock, Julius' moving pen and frequent page flipping, and a whacking and 'beep-beep' sound from Alice's laptop that's driving him crazy.

"What is that—so annoying!" Julius snaps out in irritation (actually is bored and curious)—he stands up and walks around the table to approach Alice.

"Sorry! I'll wear my headphone—get back to study, geez!" Alice yelps and frantically tries to find her headphone. She facepalms. "Shit, I forgot to bring it!"

Julius stares at her monitor. "What is this? A game?"

"Yeah, it's just _Ace Attorney_—go back to study." Alice deadpans at him, but then falters when his eyes shows a bit of interest. Julius forces himself to turn away.

"Whatever." He says and is about to return to his seat, but then Alice pulls his hand.

"Wait, hold up...I'm kind of stuck at this part, Julius!" she exclaims. She's just lying though, she's been playing that case for five times already—the Turnabout Samurai.

Julius is definitely interested. They finished that trial real quick, and soon, he asks her to replay from the first turnabout. Alice looks away and holds her tears.

'_Julius is entering the game world...This is a miracle!'_

~.X.~

It's the first time Julius approaches Alice's desk instead, and Alice has the stern, cold expression on her face when he's holding out a flash drive.

"Please."

"No."

Julius grunts and returns to his seat in defeat. "Why do you care about my study so suddenly now? My parents told me to enjoy myself,"

"You're going to get dropped-out!" Alice hisses sadistically. "You can download the game yourself, Julius—but not now!" he looks irritated again, so she quickly says; "Look, I'll give you the files after Saturday, okay?"

Julius scoffs in disinterest and looks away. "What's the point of studying now...I'm going to get dropped out." He looks grim again. "My parents will either disown me or never let me have fun anymore—that's why...don't you think I should finish all of the attorney series before they ban 'fun' from me?"

Alice facepalms.

'_Did we switch personalities!?'_

~.X.~

It goes without saying, Julius will keep studying even if Alice isn't nagging him about it. He has a lot of power to hold back from fun things. He just never knows that there can be such a smart game like _Ace Attorney_ Series.

Tomorrow, he's going to sign the letter of resignation—the drop-out letter. Yet, Alice is still right there across him, reading a manga (she doesn't bring her laptop again so he won't bug her to play _Ace Attorney_). After tomorrow...he won't come to school anymore. He won't meet her anymore—they're not classmate anymore.

"Your parents are coming back this Sunday, right?" Alice suddenly ask, and he looks up from his book.

"Yeah..."

She takes a deep breath. "Gee...I wonder if I can stomach another acting to bail you out...at least from disowning." She laughs nervously. Julius is taken aback.

"What do you mean...? You're...still going to come?" he asks in disbelief, his fingers shiver.

Alice looks at him as if he's grown a third head. "Well, I've got to do something, man!" she rolls her eyes. "Hey, don't think that I'll stop bugging you even after you're dropped-out, Julius." She deadpans, feeling irritated at his low self-esteem.

Julius grinds his teeth and tries hard not to look at her, scowling. "Damn it."

Alice snaps her manga closed. "Ugh, I have to go now. I need to do something. See ya tomorrow, Julius," she says, dropping her manga carefully into her bag and exits his house.

Julius is left alone with the sound of the ticking clock again. His chest hurts so much—he doesn't know if he feels happy or sad about it. He's having...someone who's not leaving him alone just because they're not classmate anymore, let alone schoolmate.

He groans and cradles his head.

"I...I don't want to be dropped out."


	24. Chapter 24

24\. Alice Wright – Ace Attorney!

The next day, the judgment day. Julius glares down at the paper in front of him, on the table. The teachers and the headmaster are waiting for him to sign it. He wonders why he's not protesting days ago...and wonders if protesting now will count.

"I..." he clenches his fists. "I don't want to drop-out, sir."

The teachers look surprised at his words. The headmaster frowns at him.

"What are you going to do about it, Monrey?"

"Anything," Julius stands up and grips the edge of the table. "I'll do anything, I swear...You can ban me from using computer...you can give me detention until graduation...I want to stay at school."

The commitee exchange stares. The headmaster shakes his head, eyebrows furrowed.

"We can't take it back so easily, Monrey. What you've done is outrageous—we can't let a student who's insulting our security in our school. Besides...the rest of the students won't accept this—you'll go through hard times if you stay."

Julius grits his teeth. "I don't care about that...I...I'll be fine." He stares at the headmaster, straight into his eyes. "Please let me stay, sir. Give me another chance."

"Monrey, you're pushing it." A teacher sterly says. "As much as we hate doing this, we have to show that we don't easily take back our words or bending the rules—no one will take a school seriously if we do that for anyone. This is not pre-school, son."

He hangs his head down. "Tell me, what should I do to stay—I'll do anything, sir."

The headmaster sighs. "There's only one thing you can do—prove your innocence and convince the other students that you're not the culprit."

Julius flinches, eyes wide as he frowns at the old teacher. "But...I..." he can't just say 'anything but that'. That's the only thing they give to him—yet, with the evidence that points at him...

'_I can't go to school and be her classmate anymore.'_ He scowls to himself in self-hatred. '_Because I can't do anything about it...'_

"There's nothing you can do, I presume," the homeroom teacher sighs and puts a pen beside the resignation paper. "This is for the best, Monrey. Accept your punishment—accept your mistake. After this, come out and apologize to everyone."

The navy-haired teen keeps hanging his head down, not budging. It's happening again, he's paralyzed again. He doesn't want—beyond everything, beyond dropping-out...he doesn't want to apologize for something he didn't do!

"Monrey, grow up and sign the letter," Coach Frank says with his growling voice, and Julius finally realizes everything that contradicts Alice's words.

Eventhough he's innocence...there are times when he has to swallow the bitter pill and deal with it. There will be time where anyone is going to be unlucky and accept it, so life can goes on and everyone will move on again—he just has to get this over with so everyone can move on from him.

He gulps and reluctantly takes the pen. Didn't he went through this already? Like that time when he finds out that no one wants to hang out with him, and he dealt with it—because he has to grow up, everyone should, and should deal with it. There will always a time when you have to do something you don't want to. No matter how bitter it will be.

"_Hold it!_"

He freezes when the door behind him slams open. Alice walks in with the librarian and Ace Pendragon following behind. She glares at Julius angrily.

"What the hell did I just say!? You're not guilty, why are you getting the punishment—seriously, and you said I'm an idiot!"

"Alice Liddell! Why are you interrupting the meeting!? Get out!" Coach Frank yells at her, but she dares to hold her hand up and shuts him.

"Shut up—now, this is an education body, you can't go around dropping-out student without checking through the whole case, ma'ams and sirs—You think I'm stupid because I passed the midterm barely over average, but look at yourselves!" she shakes her head and stands beside Julius' seat.

Julius looks up at her in disbelief, like how every adults in the room do.

'_Now how on earth is she going to save me again?'_

"Alice Liddell, the transfer student," the headmaster says calmly, glaring at her. "What is it that you want? Do you want to stop Julius Monrey from dropping out?"

"Yes." Alice nods firmly, once. "And how, right? I'm going to prove that Julius is innocent."


	25. Chapter 25

25\. Turnabout Exams

* * *

The room is tense when Alice begins to hand out the case's file. Julius steals a glance to the librarian who looks like he's about to faint, and Ace grins at him as if they're just meeting at the park on a stroll. He stares at Alice who looks really serious than ever.

And then she did a pose—coolly putting her right hand on the table, and Julius narrows his eyes.

'_No way. Seriously?'_

"Coach Frank, please read the case summary that I've written."She asks, and the gym teacher stands up.

"Three days before midterm, on Friday, there is an anonymous log that downloads the midterm's answers list. The computer teacher quickly looked over this and tracked down the log—the anonymous log had accessed the school's data from the computer in the library. Hey, wait a second! Where did you get this information, Liddell!?"

Alice narrows her eyes on the man. "If you want to keep things away from your students, you should make this damn meeting room sound-proof, since you can find out rumors easily from your sneaky students." She deadpans, and the teachers flinch.

'_Though I actually just asked your student council president.'_ She adds in her mind.

"So yeah, the anonymous log only appears from the computer," Alice says. "It's because you need to enter the Student's ID Number to access the school's computer, right?"

"Obviously—and Monrey's ID Number is the one that accessed the computer and is proven to be the anonymous log that hacks the school's data," the computer teacher says sternly. "Despite that, we've given a chance for him to decide whether he'd use the list or not—and he does. He got straight A+ on all of his exams."

Alice clicks her tongue and shakes her head. "Tsk, tsk, no...you can't use that as an evidence—you have to prove that Julius _did use_ the answers list."

"Sure—we found the printout in his bag," Coach Frank says, being the one who checked Julius' bag.

"There's still no evidence that he used it—but there's also no evidence that he _didn't_ use it, so let's agree that we can't prove anything about that point, and move on, shall we?" Alice asks, and the headmaster hums.

"Well, if neither of us can't prove it, then what are you going to prove, Liddell?" the old man asks sternly.

"I'll prove that Julius didn't download, nor did he print the answers list." Alice sharply answers, and waves her hand to get the librarian comes forth. "Mr. Dale, can you show us the list of students who logged into the library on Friday two weeks ago?"

The librarian meekly plugs in a flash drive to the computer in that meeting room, and turning on the projector. Soon, there's an application of Library Log In List that's being shown on the screen.

"W-Well...first of all, I want to make sure e-everyone is aware that I can not alter any data here, because Mr. Flint, the computer teacher has made this application to be read-only," he clears his throat. "The only person who can change the application's attribute is Mr. Flint, since he knows the password."

"Got it," the computer teacher nods.

Alice takes the pointer beside the projector and points at the date. "This is the day when the anonymous logged into the teacher's online board, where they keep confidential data shared only for teachers. This is also when the culprit used Julius' ID to access the computer, however..." she nods to Mr. Dale, who clicks onto the date.

"When students are entering the library, they have to use their ID number to log in—this is done in case someone steals a book, and to narrow the search, we can just see the list of students that came into the library when the book is gone, right? However, on that Friday...you can see that Julius' name is not on this list—he didn't come into the library to use the computer at all."

"Wait a second—then you mean that the other students—one of them in the log for that Friday...is the culprit?" their homeroom teacher asks. "Shouldn't the culprit just use Monrey's ID to login? I mean, Monrey can also use other's ID to login...If you say that someone else used Monrey's ID to access the computer."

The dark blonde scoffs and shakes her head. "No, no, that's impossible. Unlike the computer, you can't use someone else's ID to get into the library."

"Why not?" Coach Frank asks in confuse.

"B-Because that'll be suspicious..." the librarian stutters out. "W-When a student login to the library...I can see their face...and their photo will appear on this application, so...if Monrey logged in using other's ID, I...I'd be suspicious, o-of course..."

The teachers begin to whisper around about this. Julius frowns to himself for not thinking about that...but being framed, he just blanked out.

"Then, someone that Friday, logged into the library with their own ID Card, but then used Julius' ID Number to access the computer?" the headmaster sums up, holding his hand to silence his co-workers.

"That's correct." Alice nods.

"Then...how do you explain the answers print out I found!?" Coach Frank yells. "Maybe he's teaming up with someone else!"

Alice holds her hands up. "Hold it—we've established that Julius didn't access the computer that day, so he's not the hacker."

"Then can you give more proof that someone else is the hacker?" the headmaster calmly asks.

Julius shivers when Alice confidently smiles and nods once. "Yes. Yes, I can." She nods to Ace. "I have my second witness, our popular jock, Ace Pendragon."

Ace grins and walks to her side. "Wow, this is kinda cool—like in the movies..." he chuckles. "So yeah, the proof that someone else is the hacker, is because the culprit stole his ID Card. And coincidentally, I found it," he pulls out Julius' Student ID Card from his pocket.

"Wait, how can you know that Pendragon isn't the culprit?" one of the teachers asks.

Alice groans. "Well, his name isn't on the list—he didn't come to the library that Friday, so it wasn't him!" she explains impatiently. "But, Ace found it on Monday, the first day of midterm. It should be enough to prove that Julius didn't come to the library, used the computer and hacked your data."

She turns sharply to the gym teacher before he speaks again. "The reason why the answer's list is in his bag, is because someone puts it in there in order...to frame him."

The meeting room is silent. Julius begins to realize something. Then, the headmaster clears his throat.

"I suppose you can tell us who's the true hacker, then, Liddell?"

Alice nods. "I can...but that's Julius' decision to make." She crosses her arms, and turns to Julius, who knows that she's going to say that. "It seems that we've come to an agreement that Julius didn't hack the school's system. I can easily prove who's the true hacker—with motives and even more evidences...but being the victim, Julius has the right to choose how he wants to deal with the culprit."

Mr. Flint, the computer teacher, scoffs. "That can't be so hard—I'll just track the students that logged into the library on that Friday,"

The dark blonde chuckles. "That won't be possible, Mr. Flint. The hacker is much more advanced than you are...you won't ever be able to track that person. The hacker...that person quickly recognizes your security system—that person even knows that the Library Log In Application can show the photo of the ID users—none of the students until now, found out about that, but the hacker knows. Even more, the hacker knows that the computer saves log-in data of anyone who accesses it—no average students are aware of this until now." She points her thumb to herself and snickers.

"I'm the only one who have the decisive evidence that the true hacker had used Julius' ID and used the printer in the library. Try to track him down until the World's End, but sorry, sir...It's all up to Julius." The dark blonde pats her friend's shoulder. Mr. Flint looks irritated, but then looks away, apparently going to try and find the hacker on his own. Ace whistles, impressed.

Julius sighs, shaking his head. "I'll deal with that person on my own." He says.

"Alright, then..." the homeroom teacher says in agreement. "There's this one thing—we just need a way to prove that Monrey didn't use the answers list in his bag. The students won't probably accept this result easily."

"Yeah, I've thought of that too," Alice laughs. "Can't you just make new exam problems and make Julius work on them in front of the whole school?"

Julius flinches and turns to Alice. "What!?"

"Hey, that's brilliant, Alice!" Ace praises.

"Huh?" the navy head twitches.

"If only we'd think of that sooner...!" the headmaster looks impressed as well. "Well then, everyone, what are you waiting for? Give Monrey his solo midterm debut, at once! If he can get perfect scores when being watched by the whole school, then everything will be cleared up!"

Alice and Ace pats Julius' back. "Good for you, right! We did it, Julius!"

'_I...have to...take exams in front of the whole school...'_ Julius shivers at the new gain nightmare.

'_Maybe I should just drop out and get disowned instead.'_


	26. Chapter 26

26\. The Puppet Master

* * *

When Julius found out that he got A+ on all of his subjects in the first try, he was shivering—he was convicted as a hacker and cheated by using the answers list downloaded from the teachers' data.

And when this happens again in his second chance—after he had to do eleven exams, excluding P.E. and also got A+ for every subjects..._in front of the whole school_...he's shivering for a completely different reason and feeling.

He's still not happy. He just feels that there must really be God or something up there, because getting perfection for second time isn't something easy. Even the whole school thinks that he's probably a genius or maybe God, for actually getting perfect scores for every subjects.

Even so, no one apologized to him nor to Alice—he didn't care about that, though. For now, he just want to deal with _him_.

"How did you find me out?" Elliot March smirks casually, shoving his hands into his pockets.

Julius throws a dirty sleeve-shirt to the ginger, who looks startled. "Alice found that and said that you're such a good guy." He scoffs, crossing his arms, glaring at Elliot coldly. "You stole my ID Card that day when she's studying integrals, and went to buy food for me—and then I left you alone for the restroom."

Elliot sighs and folds his dirty shirt, the sleeves are covered with ink. "What else did she found?"

"You hacked the data on the next day, Friday. Even your name is in the library's log that day," Julius says. "You printed it using the school's printer, but it's busted and you tried to fix it, that's why your sleeves got dirty, and you changed into your P.E. uniform. Alice noticed this...and then Ace coincidentally saw you giving that shirt to the pugs after school."

The ginger grins. "She knows I'm up to something...the moment I began to approach her...she already knew, didn't she?"

The navy-haired teen takes a seat on the stadium's seat. Good thing it's raining, so no one can hear them from afar. Elliot sighs again and begins to walk on the seats.

"Yeah...even though she's not sure what you're up to...she checked out the computer's system log to see that you printed out something—you deleted the answer's file, though, so she's not sure what you're doing." He explains sternly.

The two are silent, listening to the hard rain coming down, hitting the stadium's roof like a hundred of footsteps. Julius stares at the empty sports yard. He wonders why Alice never tells him about Elliot—he wonders why he doesn't care in the first place. He can't believe how ignorant he is.

"Why me?" he asks Elliot. "I'm not the one who sent your brother to prison—it was my parents,"

Elliot stops walking on the seats. Julius doesn't look at him, but he can feel the cold glare from the ginger.

"I know that," Elliot says coldly. "I hated them. And then I was thinking about that 'Monrey' name...hey, there's this guy with Monrey surname at my school—why don't I see if he's those bastards' son? Turns out, he is,"

"And you think my parents will care if you ruin me," Julius scoffs.

"No—I honestly didn't care about you. At first I just thought that you're as horrible as your parents. Conceited, selfish jerk. I thought of ignoring you—and then there's Alice," Julius can hear the wrath in his voice. "She's...so nice. Yet, you treated her like a dirt on your shoes—it angers me even more that she accepts you for being that way..."

Julius feels the same way with Elliot—after all of this framing event, he hates himself for being such a jerk.

"She even knows that I might have something against you—but she accepts me...Alice is really kind, you shouldn't treat her that way, you bastard," the ginger says through his gritted teeth. "She doesn't judge—she can see anyone's different sides, maybe that's why...maybe she's seen your other side, but your fucking conceited side pisses me off. Even when she knows what I'm doing to you...she still acts really nice..."

"I'm not nice!" Alice protests, and the two looks up to the higher seats to see her sitting there, smiling wryly. "I guess...I just don't care, you know? I'm even more ignorant than Julius. I just think...just do what you want, be yourself...if things turn bad, I'll just have to deal with it."

"No, you're really kind," Elliot insists. "Even after what I've done..."

"You should know that I'm a really great actress, even Julius admits it," Alice deadpans. "I don't care what you did, really, Elliot. Though, if my friend is in rough...I'll cut my arms and legs to help them—ugh, then again, Julius is my only friend right now, I shouldn't talk like I have hundreds," she thoughtfully corrects herself.

Elliot frowns at her in confuse. "Then...you're saying that I'm not on your fancy friend-list?"

"No." Alice says straight out with a smile.

Vein pops, and Julius turns to her as well in disbelief. Elliot is gaping.

"I...what!?" he stomps over to her seat, and Alice grimaces. "I'm letting you to be my game's artist, and I'm not even your friend!?"

"Whoa, dude," Alice begins to walk away backwards. "You can hire a game artist, that makes us co-workers! When it's over, it's over!"

"I'm your friend, too!" Elliot protests and begins to chase her down. Alice yelps and runs away.

"No, you're just a fellow otaku!" she denies and screams when he jumps down the seats, and the two begins a cat-and-mouse chase on the yard.

Seeing Elliot, Julius then realizes something. Elliot is...just the same as Alice—she thinks of Julius as a friend, but it's one sided. Elliot thinks of Alice as a friend, but it's also one-sided. Seeing how irritated Elliot looks, Julius begins to wonder if Alice is also irritated about him...if she does, then of course, there's no way of knowing with her flawless acting skill.


	27. Chapter 27

27\. My First Friend

* * *

Saturday ends, and his parents came back earlier than planned. It seems that his father got shot in North Korea when going through the borderline, but luckily, the bullet just grazed his knee. His mother looks like she's been going through hell. Apparently, they were under murder threat when prosecuting the culprit.

Julius never paid any interest to his parents' job as prosecutors, as he's more interested with his grandfather's clocks. His parents didn't object to this, as long as he gets good grades. And for the first time when his father asks his usual question, Julius feels that he has a lot to talk about.

"How's school, son?"

Oh, he's almost dropped-out, thanks to his father and mother who somehow sent a man to jail, and that man's brother somewhat got a grudge against him and frames him into hacking the school's data, and Julius got called as a cheating bastard for a whole week, and in the end, he had to do the god damn exam in front of the entire school.

"I got perfect scores for this midterm," is all that matters to Julius and his parents.

"Now that's a great challenge, Julius," his mother says in concern, serving spaghetti for dinner and takes a seat. "It's hard to keep straight A+'s. Don't push yourself, alright?" she smiles warmly. "But at least keep your straight A's."

"Of course." Julius says—it goes without saying, he has to keep straight A's, even though it's not A+.

"Oh, there's something I need to ask..." Julius says again, staring at his pasta. "It's about Lancelot March, from Dupre Corp."

"Ah, that poor young man," his father says, tangling his spaghetti with his fork. "He got tricked into hacking his own best friend's system. March thought that he's hacking into his rival's system...and it's an online security system of the Dupre's manor. The culprit is from the rival corporation, and he's trying to steal some data...and killed someone in the process."

Julius listens attentively. He never hears his father talks much, but of course, the man has a lot of tales to tell from the court.

"Lancelot March was arrested for hacking—it's a crime, obviously...but that makes Reginald Dupre, his best friend, feels betrayed, thus fires him." His mother sighs. "I heard that he got depressed and tried to kill himself, but his little brother stopped him. That guy is in a coma, the last I read in the newspaper,"

"I...see," the navy-haired teen is deep in thought. Feeling betrayed...maybe it's not only Reginald Dupre who felt that way; Lancelot March must have felt that way...he was only trying to do something to help. Elliot must've felt really irritated about Julius...but his parents were just doing their job.

"Oh yeah, I just realized something," his mother suddenly speaks again. "That Alice Liddell girl, your friend—she's Edward Liddell's little sister, isn't she?"

"Oh, yes, the lawyer." Julius nods stoically. "Do you know him personally?"

"He was my junior when I was taking the law degree in Oxford," his father says, taking a sip of his wine. "Edward Liddell is a genius—he was just seventeen when he finished his degree...and I thought that he was going to be a prosecutor, but he's an ace attorney now. Your mother used to be his mentor,"

Julius is surprised. "Is that true? What was he like?" he's wondering if the guy is as whacky as the first time meeting him. Mrs. Monrey hums, trying to remember.

"Well...I remember he had this strange whim to 'leave everything up to his sister'. He meant Alice, you see...Ah, now I remember why she looks familiar to me," she nods. "Edward Liddell was really quiet—he always looks dazed...but he's definitely a genius. When I finished mentoring him and guided his first prosecution, the next month, he's a lawyer, having a lawyer as a mentor..."

Julius twitches. It sounds like something that Alice will do...

"When we met again, a year later, he told me that his little sister said that he should learn both sides and decide which side he likes better...because in the end, it's the same point." His mother made a rare smile. "Edward Liddell told me that Alice is a _perceiver_. I don't really understand what that means, though..."

His father hums. "Well, using the etymology...then it means she is capable of perceiving things from many sides without being biased by anything. Ah, yes, I think I remember someone like that..." Mr. Monrey chuckles. "It's like...my father. Of course, he's a perceiver,"

"Oh, I see...your father never sides with anyone and always want everyone to win, I guess that's a perceiver..." his mother nods in agreement. "You see, Julius, that kind of person is quite irritating, but in the end, everyone can be happy. You can see how a person is a perceiver from small things,"

Julius keeps that in mind. A perceiver...is Alice a perceiver?

"Isn't tomorrow a day off?" his father speaks again. "Since you've gotten perfect scores, you should hang out with your friend, Julius. Though be a gentleman and if you're going past curfew, take her home, alright?"

"Eh?" the boy twitches.

"What? I thought you two are friends—aren't you two hanging out?" his mother asks curiously.

The idea makes Julius awake for the entire night. Now that he thinks about it...Alice is always on the proactive side...but it's already Sunday night! He can't just up and call her...Besides, if they are going to hang out...what should he do?

Julius sits on his bed, and stares at his computer.

"Ugh...I guess I have to do something to thank her..." he mumbles and drags himself to his computer and turns it on. Soon, Julius is online and begins his quest of search on:

**What to do when hanging out with a friend.**

~.X.~

Julius finishes taking down notes of what to do. He doesn't realize that it's past twelve.

First of all, he has to make an appointment by calling her. So that's what he does, without even thinking about staring at the time, and the moment she picks up...

"The fuck!? Is this a fucking prank call!? Not funny, Albert!" she growls and hangs up in a millisecond.

Julius twitches and stares at his cellphone.

'_Oh well. She'll have to deal with this, or I'll never do this again,_' he pessimistically thinks, and starts to dial her number again, but then his cellphone vibrates first. '_Whoah, she calls back fast...'_

"Hey, Alice,"

"Sorry about that," she deadpans from the other line. "Dude, seriously? This is like zero-thirty...did you got homeless suddenly?"

'_What does that got to do with anything?'_ he narrows his eyes. "Yeah, I just realized. Though, I have to do this or it will be too late. Let's hang out today," he sternly says—in an ordering tone.

"Heh...huh? Wait, wh—"

"I'll see you in the plaza on 9 AM sharp." He says, reading his notes again.

"Huh? Nine sh—"

"Don't you dare coming late. See you at 9." He says and hangs up. Julius checks the 'Make an appointment' box. He reads the next plan.

"Oh, I have to sleep for six hours." He nods and claps his hands to turn off the lamp.

~.X.~

The next step, he has to clean up and wear something 'casual but stylish'. Julius decides to go with his usual sleeve shirt and vest, since Alice isn't one to pay to that kind of details. Then, according to his notes, he has to eat half of his usual breakfast, since he's going to eat out.

"Next step...depart about thirty minutes before the appointment time." Julius nods and puts in his note to his coat's pocket. "Mother, I'm leaving." He says, and his mother okay-s him.

Julius walks in deep thought, frequently checking his note. "Prepare some topics to talk about beforehand...oh, what a pain..." he hums. "Maybe...we should talk about physics...and the weather..." he mumbles to himself and then facepalms.

'_I sounded like a total social retard.'_

To his surprise, Alice is already 'on guard' on the plaza, standing like a statue before the fountain, not moving at all. She's wearing...a skirt. Now that's a change of view.

"You're wearing a skirt." Julius narrows his eyes, observing her. "If you don't feel well, you should've said so, Alice."

"Why is it that everyone thinks I'm falling ill whenever I act a bit feminine?" Alice deadpans. "Lorina freaked out when I said I'm going to _hang out_, and she forced me on this, and be like; if you don't wear it, I won't be your sister anymore! Something like that..." she sighs.

"Well, you look good," Julius nods, and pulls out his notes again. "Next, after complimenting your friend, despite how horrid he or she looks...I should ask if he or she is hungry. Alice, are you hungry?"

"Are you a robot?" Alice twitches and snatches his notes.

"Hey—I need that, I won't know how to hang out without it," Julius tries to snatch it back, but Alice begins to walk away and read.

"God, Julius, seriously—I'm awkward, but you're really retarded right now," she says, and then drops her notes in her purse. "Let's try to hang out like normal teenagers!" her eyes gleam and she begins to drag him.

'_Hang out like normal teenagers—aren't we normal?'_ Julius twitches.

"If I see others...usually they are window-shopping...and girls mostly go to check clothes, but we should skip that because I hate doing that," Alice says to herself. "We should hang out to the places that interest us—what about a bookstore?" she suggests.

Julius raises his eyebrows. "Yeah, I'd like that," he nods.

Alice takes a deep breath when they enter the bookstore. "Ahh, I love the smell of papers filled with curious things," she sighs and begins to stroll away, right to the _manga_ section.

The navy-haired teen smiles a little and heads to the _Lessons_ section. His eyes gleam when he sees the new arrivals piles.

'_Oh, this is the continuation of Calculus Expert...Look, this is the Planet Rotation and Friction's new serial...Hm, this is a new Physics Formula Collection...maybe I should see if it has new materials...I think I'll need Classic Literature Guide for this year...'_

Alice frowns when she and Julius line up to pay at the cashier. "Dude, I'd never spend money for school books...This is your idea of hanging out?" she shakes her head.

Julius eyes her purchases; fictions, cooking books, magazines and mangas. "Whatever." He turns away.

"Behind the bookstore there's a quiet cafe—Should we go there and read some?" Alice suggests as she waits for him to pay his books.

"Sure," he nods. He thinks he should just leave it to her on this 'hang out' stuff.

The two finds a table and orders some drinks. After the waiter leaves, they begin to rummage their purchases. Julius takes out the new Physics Formula Collection. He notices that Alice is piling up several books.

"Ah, here it is," she grins and hands one of the books to Julius. "This is _Hugo_, he's a clockmaker. I just think you'd like it. They actually has the movie about it, and Asa Butterfly, my favorite actor, plays as Hugo! I read it in James' library, so you can have this."

"Uh...thanks," Julius awkwardly accepts the book and stares at the cover. He didn't expect that—she's really thoughtful in this 'hang out'...the gift makes him happy, but now he's irritated at how he's not so proactive in this event.

He clears his throat and puts away his book, randomly taking one of hers. "Wh-What is this? _Otomen_?"

"Oh, yeah—it's my current addiction," Alice says, nodding vigorously. "It's about men who have feminine hobbies, feminine way of thinking...it's so good! Though it's the seventeenth volume, so if you want to follow up, you can borrow mine, Julius,"

Julius frowns. "Is it a gay story again?"

"Oh, no, not really—the main character is paired up with a manly girl. Though some fans like to pair the guys together, but you don't have to mind those girls! Or you can start with this instead, Julius—yes, this is perfect for you!"

Alice hands over another manga, and he freezes in irritation. _Doraemon_.

"You're...insulting me?" he twitches. "I read this in elementary school. I'm not that blind in manga, you know? Why did you buy that anyway..." he puts it away.

"Well, Albert is collecting them! He's the only one who can team up with me...my other sisters and brothers are already 'grown-up and don't know how to have fun', kind of like you, Julius," she hums. "Maybe that's also why I'm so chill around you. You're just like my other siblings."

Julius narrows his eyes, feeling torn about being compared to her siblings.

'_So they're grown-up and don't know how to have fun...'_

Soon enough, their orders arrive. Julius is trying espresso, but then he's quite surprised to see Alice's order. It's ice cream and cake, with chocolate, wafer and cream in a jar. Alice looks surprised as well.

"Oh, I hit the nail!" she gasps, and grins to the waiter. "Thank you!"

"Think nothing of it," the waiter smiles and leaves.

"What is that?" Julius asks.

"They call this 'Cake in Jar'...Ah, Edith will flip if she sees this!" Alice takes out her cellphone and take a picture of it. "If I send this to her, this menu will be popular quick—Edith is a social butterfly, she's pretty and popular, the complete opposite of me," she explains. "Now let's eat! So, Julius, where to go next? It's your turn to decide,"

The navy-haired teen stops in movement, turning blank. He just decided to leave this event for Alice, and then he realized he was the one who 'invited her out', which wouldn't make sense if he didn't at least have a plan. Well he did, but she took his notes. Alice, as usual, reads his mind and grins.

"Julius, you're like a robot with a single function." She comments, giggling slightly. Julius looks down with slightly red face. "This hang-out thing, you invited me to it, but why? I was so shocked and so excited, I thought there's something you want to do."

Julius stares at her with a frown. "Well I did, we're supposed to chat, eat, and – and watch comedy flick, then..." he trails off, feeling exposed.

Alice tilts her head. "Julius those are the things in your note. And I don't believe in the slightest that those are what you want to do. You only want to stay home and study."

"Well you hit the nail." Julius huffs and glances away awkwardly. "I...I just think, that – that I want you to have fun once in a while. You deserve it, so I think for once, I'd do something that will make you happy. Y-You know...you did, save me again. And I never really thanked you." He clears his throat, scratching the back of his head.

The dark blonde blushes. "O-Oh...you don't have to thank me!" she laughs awkwardly. "I mean, that's what I do! You're my friend! I mean, I consider you a friend, so of course, I'd help you out. Not that you consider me—"

"...Friend..."

"Huh?"

Julius clears his throat and glares at his espresso. "I said, I consider you my friend."

Alice suddenly clicks her smartphone. Julius flinches as she turns the screen towards him. A recording. She clicks play.

"I said, I consider you my friend." His voice replays.

Julius twitches. A grin grows on Alice's face. She stands up, slams some money on the table, drags her bag of books and snatches his hand.

"You said it!" she laughs as they begin to walks out of the cafe. "Finally! Now I can do this!"

"D-Do what!?" Julius tries to keep up.

"Karaoke!"

Julius finally notices the next building they're heading to, and tries all his might to walk away.

"No."

"But I thought you want to make me happy because I deserve it, because I saved your ass twice and because _you consider me a friend_."

Oh, why couldn't he see this coming!? Damn it, Julius!

~.X.~

Karaoke is quite hectic. Alice is so excited as they get one medium room, and Julius begins to feel nervous when he notices a camera in the corner of the room, and the music is banging so loud, and the lights are dim. He's not completely overwhelmed until Alice suddenly cries loudly.

"I-It's been my dream to go on karaoke with a friend...! I-I-I'm so h-happy...!"

Julius has to hide his laughter. Despite being manipulative and cunning, he often forgets that Alice used to be friendless. Now that he remembers, he feels a warmth, a feeling of secure and a slight pang of guilt. How can he not trust this girl? Alice has to go all the way saving his life twice to get his trust and friendship. It's because he can only see it now.

"Are you going to keep crying after we pay for this room or what?" Julius scolds her, handing a mike. Alice wipes her face and takes the mike, taps it twice and stands up.

It's true that there is something that humans want to gain from helping or caring for others. Though what they want doesn't necessarily benefits them. Caring, it's something that comes because you want to see a certain person happy for no reason. While everyone can afford to care, friendship offers a deeper kind of 'care'. It offers you a place to put your trust.

Julius used to put trust on himself and never depends on anyone else. And that's impossible. He learned it the hard way, having convicted by the whole school because he has no friend. He's very fortunate to have Alice around. She trusts him and helps him when the world is against him.

So even if Alice, maybe one day, hates him or leaves him, Julius decides that he wants to consider her a friend no matter what. Because he wants to. And he owes her that much.

"_When I see you smile..._

_I can take the world,_

_O-Oh, you know I can do anything..._

_When I see you smile..._

_Baby, when I see you...smile..._

_Smile, at...me..._"

The machine gives a great applause and the screens shows that she gets 95 points for her singing. Alice cheers and then hands the mike to a startled Julius.

"Your turn! Man, that feels good! What do you think?"

"Well, you're pretty good, and the machine thinks you're awesome." He comments with a shrug. He then realizes that she's still staring. "What?"

"It's your turn! Sing! Wait, don't tell me, you don't know any song?" Alice narrows her eyes in suspicion. "You only know nursery rhymes, is that it, Julius...? I mean, you're socially retarde—"

"I don't want to hear that from you, and I know some songs, thank you." Julius angrily grabs the remote, slightly blushing. "But don't laugh at me."

Alice laughs. "I'm too happy not to! Now surprise me! What kind of music doth the Mighty Lord Julius knowth?"

Julius doesn't realize that he is giving her a warm, rare smile as he stands up. Holding the mike and waiting for his song to play, he tells Alice;

"You know, there's probably a lot of things we don't know about each other..." he clears his throat and eyes the monitor as the lyrics are on standby. Alice's eyes widened. "I guess...I'm quite excited to get to know you, Alice."

Julius can't look at her bright smile upon hearing his words, he feels that his heart might melt. Well, he knows that for one thing; when he never think he ever says something that makes anyone happy, Alice becomes very happy just from his simple words.

He wonders if Alice knows that he's also happy to see her happy. Although maybe that's a normal thing with friendship.

Well, who cares? Neither of them are going anywhere soon. They have the time in the world to get to know each other. Maybe see the world together. Maybe open his door wider with her by his side. There will be nothing to fear anymore...

...Because now, he has a friend.

...

...

..

"It's done!"

"That ending is too...Did I really say that?"

"Julius, I'm going to upload this."

"Wait, no! This is embarrassing!"

"Our friendship will be known across the world! And it shall be!"

"It's embarrassing! It's too cheesy!"

"Why? I like it, actually, hahaha. And everyone loves cheese, right, Alice?"

"Julius, hear that? Ace agrees with _moi_. I am quite a writer. I might as well praise myself; Good job, Alice!"

"Haha! I'll praise you, Alice. Good job! So, are you going to write another one where I'm finally in the picture?"

"Hmm~ I don't know...Depends on my mood or if you'd be nice to me, Ace~! Right, Julius? Hey, you don't look supportive about the second season!"

"Why would I. It's too heart-breaking for me. What with you having a crush with that Dupre guy—"

"Hey, hey, Julius, no spoiler! Let's just give the readers wrong impression for the next season."

"What? Alice, you're crushing on—"

"Right! I've uploaded it! Yay! Now I need to go, guys. I need to talk with the potatoes."

"Hahaha—wait, Alice! I wanna talk to them too! Julius, let's go!"

"Ugh, I'll never get used to them..."

* * *

Author's Note:

When I wrote this story, I thought of my friends, so Julius's and Alice's personality has tidbits of my friends.

Julius's personal space is mostly from Nino, who's been my bestfriend since Junior High. She doesn't like people who barges in without permission or being too insensitive. His stern and distrustful attitude comes from Rohan. He also gets his stingy tongue from me.

Alice is the result of my friendship with Person P and Tailsdoll123 (Natasha). Sometimes we talk about deep serious stuff, questioning the existence of this world and then we becomes drama queen or cunning villains. Her awkward side comes from BrokenBlackCat, also a friend from Fanfiction.

Since in the canon Elliot hates Julius, I was stuck for a year. Well, until I got inspired by a suicide. Elliot is mostly based on my late first friend ever, Souichiro Seta Ryu. He could really do the evil when it's related to whatever he cares, but the typical fluffy giant. (I hope his ghost won't get angry for this)

I wanted to write Ace more, he's based on Yorda, my recently deceased boyfriend. I think he'll have to wait for the second season (if I get my hands around it, someday, haha). I'm currently designing his character more, he comes out really childish and I kinda like that. I want him to have the 'father-mother-son' relationship with Alice and Julius, like in the canon.

Thanks for reading, hope to see you on Season 2!

Elise the Writing Desk, peace out v(^_')

JOIN THE WAYS OF POTATO


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